Americans are told that placing materials in a blue bin is an act of planetary responsibility. The slogan is simple: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In practice, the system is neither simple nor responsible. It is a government-mandated process that feeds corporate interests while requiring the very fossil-fuel consumption its advocates claim to oppose.
Most of the finished goods Americans buy are not made nearby. They are manufactured in China and other distant countries, then shipped across oceans on container vessels that burn heavy fuel oil the entire way. That reality already locks enormous quantities of fossil fuel into the supply chain of ordinary products. Recycling does not escape this system. It often multiplies it.
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