Stop Recycling — You’re Killing the Planet

Recycled materials are packed into large bales before being sold to manufacturers for reuse.

True story: I used to be a recycler.

I spent most of 2021 driving around the United States living in my car. I stopped in Jackson, WY for the summer and picked up several part-time jobs.

One of those jobs was on the sorting line of the municipal recycling center. On cardboard and plastic days I used a rake to fish contaminants out of the recycling stream. And on aluminum days I stood alongside the conveyer belt and removed contaminants by hand.

It wasn’t a glamorous job but it paid well enough. And it taught me something about recycling that I didn’t know.

Most of the stuff you put in your curbside blue bin isn’t actually recyclable. Especially plastics.

If you’re a proponent of recycling this article is about to crush your soul. It will argue that recycling is a myth. In reality, the key to recycling is to actually recycle less — not more.

Recycling plastic is a myth.

There are only a few materials that can be recycled. Cardboard and aluminum are two of the big ones.

There’s a market for these products. Aluminum can be melted down and infinitely repurposed while cardboard and paper products can be turned into pulp and remanufactured.