Environmental Science
Why Single-Stream Recycling Leads to Higher Contamination Rates
Quick fact
Municipalities that switch to single-stream recycling see contamination rates climb from about 5-10% to over 25% in some cases, because people assume anything with a recycling symbol is recyclable, a phenomenon called 'wish-cycling.'
Why this is interesting
You toss a pizza box in the recycling bin, feeling eco-friendly—but that single box could doom an entire batch of recyclables. Why does making recycling easier actually make it worse?