4 ms·

You mean that people just don’t sort their garbage at all, the company does it for them? Is it technically plausible, with decent material recovery levels? Don’

• drunkpotato 15y ago
  > You mean that people just don’t sort their garbage at all, the company does it for them? Yes, precisely. The usual caveats apply: no hazardous waste (hazardous chemicals, biohazard waste). > Is it technically plausible, with decent material recovery levels? It seems to be, based on Charlottesville's experience. I don't know the recovery levels. That is a good topic for research. > Don’t the recyclable materials lose value by putting them together with regular garbage? They do, but my understanding is the lost value is much less than relying on residential pre-sorting of recyclable materials. The idea is not to compare the efficacy of single-stream with a hypothetically perfect human recycler, but with recycling rates in actual practice among residents after decades of attempted recycling education. I was told by a reporter in Charlottesville that single-stream compares favorably, but I am having trouble finding actual rates for comparison in my quick Googling today. So if you're interested, take my comment as a basis for further research into the issue.