As my 71^st birthday approaches I reflect on the changes I’ve witnessed in waste reduction and recycling. I am one of the old poos who initiated a community waste reduction/recycling project back in the 1980s.

I use the word waste reduction as well as recycling because back then we taught the Three Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle – in that order. Our drop off center, Recycle Signal, encouraged that hierarchy with repair and reuse opportunities.

As for recycling, drop off center programs engaged citizens as they took personal responsibility and sorted their various items into segregated bins. That sorting plus education and an onsite supervisor kept the materials unmixed and marketable.

If collected items are not made into something new then they are not recycled. 

The Arkansas the Supreme Court ruled that it was legal for the city to pick up single stream curbside recycling, then toss it in the landfill, unbeknownst to citizens, and charge them for recycling. This went on for almost three years in Fort Smith, it may still be going on. Might want to check your bill. Are recycling and garbage on the same line, a unified bill?

https://www.mitchellwilliamslaw.com/fort-smith-residential-recycling-program-arkansas-supreme-court-addresses-illegal-exaction/unjust-enrichment-claims