Got called out by a neighbor for my recycling habits

Last Tuesday my neighbor Bob saw me tossing a greasy pizza box into the blue bin and he just shook his head. He explained how the grease ruins the whole batch of paper recycling and now I feel dumb for never thinking about it. Has anyone else had a neighbor or friend point out something small you were doing wrong with your recycling?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher_flores461mo ago

Honestly Bob sounds like the kind of guy who gets off on being the recycling police. Sure grease is bad but the real problem is the whole system is broken. I've seen documentaries about how most plastic still ends up in the ocean no matter how perfect your bin is. Maybe Bob should focus on corporate waste instead of policing one pizza box. Ngl the little individual actions feel good but they don't move the needle compared to what big companies trash every day. Tbh if being a little sloppy with my recycling makes the neighbors mad, so be it.

hannah_williams2mo ago

Read somewhere that just one greasy pizza box can contaminate a whole truckload of paper recycling and it ends up in the landfill anyway. Bob might be annoying but he's not wrong about that one. Next time just rip the greasy part off and toss the clean cardboard in the bin.

wood.john2mo ago

What is it with people thinking recycling centers just ignore the grease? I had a whole bin rejected once.