Plastic food pots and trays are often unrecyclable, say councils

[Judi Lynn]

By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
4 August 2018

Most of the plastic food containers that householders wash out after use and put in the recycling bin cannot actually be recycled, it has emerged.

The mixture of plastics used in many yoghurt pots, ready meal trays and other containers limits the ability of councils to recycle them.

The Local Government Association says that only a third can be recycled. The rest get sent to landfill.

Up to 80% of packaging could be made more recyclable, the industry said.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45058971

[htuttle]

1. According to a relative of mine who used to work at a nearby recycling center

...Pretty much everything but metal goes to the landfill. Your local mileage may vary.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Heard the same from the Guy on our Recycling Truck.

[BigmanPigman]

3. I heard the same thing as well.

I was a teacher and the trash in classrooms was separated into different containers during school. After school as I would leave the parking lot I would see everything getting thrown into one big dumpster. I told a friend and he told me the real truth about what happens to our "recycled trash" since he had been investigating this issue for his newspaper. Almost everything ends up in landfills.