> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Most of what I “recycle” never gets recycled
- URL: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/09370/
- Published: 2026-10-02T21:02:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T15:26:49.000Z
- Description: Filed: 2018 · Patched · bottle and can deposits
- Author: The Clerk
- Tags: Patched

*Ten minutes scrubbing out a peanut butter jar. So the landfill gets it clean.* — Homeowner, 2020

That little number inside the recycling arrows tells you what kind of plastic it is. It doesn't mean anybody's going to recycle it. The plastics industry put it there in 1988, right inside a recycling symbol, and people have been getting the wrong idea ever since. By the last official count, for 2018, under 9% of America's plastic got recycled. Want people to bring bottles back? Pay them. States with a nickel or dime deposit get at least twice as many back.

**For now**: buy plastic bottles and jugs marked 1 or 2\. They're the likeliest to get recycled.

**Relates to** [No. 08700](https://www.thefrictionlog.com/08700/).