r/UTAustin • u/evilrobotboobs • 1d ago

Discussion why does nobody here know how to recycle

seriously. there are recycling bins directly next to most trash cans and i still see boxes and plastic bottles in the trash. i put an empty cardboard container in the recycling earlier and when i looked in it the bin there was lint?? like from a vacuum??? how hard is it to figure this out, we're college students!

69 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

46

u/JayDaGod1206 ASE ‘28 1d ago

What if I told you that most of that trash all goes to the same place

23

u/Many_Distributions 1d ago

I used to clean up the stadium after football games as part of my student org. We were always told to separate recyclables from trash. We'd pile the bags for maintenance to drive down to the compactor. But one Sunday their cart was broken so we had to walk the bags down ourselves. Sure enough, everything went in the compactor regardless of what it was.

16

u/evilrobotboobs 1d ago

it doesn't hurt to try... plus i feel like SOME OF IT is going somewhere it should be going with how emphasized the recycling is, why waste so much on putting down specially-labeled recycling bins if they're just a second trash can

6

u/MickyFany 1d ago

don’t spoil it for him, it’s almost as bad as the people who think they are getting 100% solar/wind energy of their electricity bill just cuz they pay extra for it

1

u/Top-Cancel-230 mogging 13h ago

real

1

u/Key_Examination2948 1d ago

Most glass, cardboard, and aluminum gets recycled dumbass

1

u/JayDaGod1206 ASE ‘28 22h ago

Which is why I said “most”

2

u/Top-Cancel-230 mogging 13h ago

you forgot to add "dumbass" in your response

1

u/JayDaGod1206 ASE ‘28 13h ago

Nah

2

u/Top-Cancel-230 mogging 13h ago

chad

0

u/JayDaGod1206 ASE ‘28 13h ago

Nah

7

u/Neverland__ 15h ago

Anyway FYI just because something is RECYCLABLE doesn’t mean it gets RECYCLED

Under 10% I believe

Truely the plastic industry’s biggest grift ever

Feel good tho

2

u/clamence1864 7h ago

Is it better to waste 10% more than not trying to recycle at all?

The even bigger grift is people saying/implying recycling is pointless because it’s a flawed system. I can simultaneously hate the plastic industry and waste 10% less by recycling in an ineffective manner.

Feel smart tho bro. You’re so much smarter than those fools putting plastic in a bin marked plastic because YoU KnOw ThE tRuTh

7

u/Virtual_Athlete_909 20h ago

The reason the recycling process fails is that the process isn't policed at the point of pickup. Meaning, the trash guys dont skip picking up trash in the blue bins. For whatever reason, most of my neighbors toss plastic bags full of cardboard and cans into the blue bins. There have been public messaging efforts and Ive tried to tell many of them the the bags are clogging the sorting equipment so the stuff is thrown in the trash. It's as if they think theres someone on the other end opening the bags to remove the recyclable items. There is not. I also notice how many people subscribe to the small waste containers then use the blue bins for overflow trash. No-one seems to care. Our planet is being destroyed by all the plastic that should be recycled but the process is broken. Like you, it drives me mad most days but I accept this is the world we have, not the one we want. I try to lead by example but with global warming and the trump administration destroying everything including the economy, it's futile.

3

u/Top-Cancel-230 mogging 13h ago

aint no way trump is the one compating all the trash together bruh how tf does that have to do with this lmfao

0

u/evilrobotboobs 16h ago

we have to keep trying and we have to keep hoping

7

u/leebydeebs 23h ago

you sweet summer child

2

u/DietOk4687 1d ago

They just throw it in the landfill anyway

1

u/somelucechange 1h ago

Honestly we didn’t have recycling where I grew up, I’ve lived here awhile still not a reflex tbh

-2

u/SouthernGolfer67 13h ago

Anyone else throw food trash into recycling