As a result of the fact that in my small village selective collection has been "implemented", with closed containers that open with a card, the topic of conversation, at the container, is recycling. Firstly, people talk about how dirty some of those who leave bags on the ground are, to move on to the next:
At recycling plants, they don't recycle. They mix everything together.
This phrase is told to you by the IT guy, the restaurateur, the painter, the builder, the musician, and the taxi driver. Sometimes they add:
I've seen it.
So many, many people tell you this that you don't know if it's an urban legend, a certainty, or a desire to shake off the guilt for the lack of recycling that we now seem to be practicing. They tell you this, and this means that if the plastic bag is too big and doesn't fit through the hole, and you throw it in the organic waste, you are not sinning. Why? Because everything is mixed together once it reaches the plant, which I have seen. It is true, however, that the plastic container (the largest residue we generate when buying food) fills up quickly, because three water bottles and two oil bottles already make a blockage. And nobody has enough desire to push to make it go down. Or enough strength, which you can't ask any grandmother to do; nor me, for that matter.
Perhaps one of the commentators on this article will tell me that it is true, that they have seen it, that they mix everything at the plant, and that the separate containers are only there to collect the subsidy. If this is not true, if it is a rumor that is circulating and at recycling plants they do recycle, an investigation would be needed to prove it. I am very eager to visit a recycling plant. Do they mix everything?
