The Myth of Recycling

Toss the bottle in the blue bin, pat yourself on the back, and boom—you’re saving the planet... right?

Author

Zachary Quintana

Date Published

3 months

We’ve Been Sold a Lie

Less than 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled. The rest? Landfilled, incinerated, or scattered into the environment. The comforting blue bin has become the perfect illusion: a ritual that hides the mess we don’t want to see.

California’s Sustainability Mirage

California looks green on the surface—reusable bags, compost bins, and the CRV refund system that supposedly “incentivizes” recycling. But the deeper you look, the uglier it gets.

Most “recyclable” items never make it through the process. Composite plastics—like chip bags or drink lids—can’t be separated into pure materials. Contamination from food waste ruins entire batches. So, despite our best efforts, the majority of what we recycle ends up trashed anyway.

We’ve Been Sold a Lie

California’s Sustainability Mirage

California looks green on the surface—reusable bags, compost bins, and the CRV refund system that supposedly “incentivizes” recycling. But the deeper you look, the uglier it gets.

What I Learned From PUNT

When I founded Picking Up Neighborhood Trash (PUNT), I started to notice patterns. The same brands appeared over and over—Gatorade bottles, Starbucks lids, chip bags. All technically “recyclable,” yet there they were: in creek beds, parking lots, and schoolyards.

It wasn’t random litter. It was data.
Evidence that recycling doesn’t fail by accident—it fails by design.

Corporations offload responsibility onto consumers. We’re told to “do our part,” while production scales up faster than recycling infrastructure ever could. The result? A psychological Band-Aid that protects industry, not the planet.

Reject the Myth. Rebuild the System.

The fix isn’t giving up on recycling—it’s refusing to let it be the end of the story.

Refuse what you don’t need.
Reuse what you already have.
Reform the system through accountability.

Support Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies like California’s SB-54, which force corporations to take responsibility for what they create. That’s where change actually begins.

At PUNT, we don’t just pick up trash—we track it. Because to fix a broken system, you need proof that it’s broken. And data speaks louder than slogans.

Reject the Myth. Rebuild the System.

The fix isn’t giving up on recycling—it’s refusing to let it be the end of the story.

Refuse what you don’t need.
Reuse what you already have.
Reform the system through accountability.

Support Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies like California’s SB-54, which force corporations to take responsibility for what they create. That’s where change actually begins.

At PUNT, we don’t just pick up trash—we track it. Because to fix a broken system, you need proof that it’s broken. And data speaks louder than slogans.

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