Recycling Programs

Your local recycling program is likely not actually recycling the material you send to them. Previously, China had been importing billions of tons of trash to sort and recycle at a profit, but since they have stopped the program municipal recycling programs have very few options for where to send the "single-stream recycling" for sorting and proper recycling. Often, they are resorting to "waste-to-energy" burning facilities, which produce an immense amount of air pollution.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-worlds-recycling-is-in-chaos-heres-what-has-to-happen/