Recycling
What actually gets reprocessed, and what does not.
Recycling reprocesses used material into new products. It sits third in the waste hierarchy — reduce, reuse, recycle — and the order is deliberate. Recycling still consumes energy, water and transport; not creating the waste beats processing it.
By material
| Material | Reality |
|---|---|
| Aluminium | Infinitely recyclable with no quality loss; uses about 5% of the energy of primary production. The strongest case there is. |
| Glass | Infinitely recyclable, but heavy, so transport can offset the gain. Colours must be separated. |
| Steel | Recycled at high rates; magnetically easy to separate. |
| Paper | Fibres shorten each cycle, so roughly 5–7 times before they are too short to bond. |
| Plastic | Mostly downcycled into lower-grade products. Only PET (1) and HDPE (2) are widely reprocessed. |
The resin code is not a recycling promise
The numbered triangle on plastic identifies the polymer so it can be sorted. It does not indicate that the item is collected or reprocessed anywhere in particular. Codes 3 through 7 are rarely recycled at scale despite carrying the symbol.
Contamination
A batch of otherwise good recyclate can be rejected because of food residue, liquids or non-recyclable items mixed in — wishcycling. Rinsing containers and following the local list matters more than adding hopeful extras to the bin.