Recycling?

Living in a big building and looking out on five huge bins for pick on the street below, I’m well aware of how much stuff I and my fellow apartment dwellers are throwing out in god faith that it matters. Yale Climate Connections recently exposed a few myths:

• Just putting stuff in the recyling bin - even when following local guidelines - does not guarantee that recycling happens. Much of it still ends up in the garbage. To make it worse, the triangular symbol for recycling isn’t trademarked and anyone can use it.

• Recycling is not the best thing we can do. Three things that would be better are: not driving a car, not flying somewhere, and not eating red meat. It also wouldn’t hurt to vote for the party that cares the most about the environment. The last one here probably hurts the least and matters the most.

• Reduce, re-using and recycling are not equally beneficial. The first two are much more valuable.

• Not everyone can recycle - and some have bigger priorities - for example indigenous communities trying to keep oil rigs or coal plants off their land

• Education is weak about the impacts. There is very different experiences for those who have to live near land fill sites. We all need to be educated re greenwashing and call it when it happens.