I’ve heard that my recyclable materials don’t actually get recycled, they get hauled to the dump. Is that true?

Rest assured that your recycling is headed for the sorting facility, not the dump. It costs money to deliver trash to the dump; in the trash hauling world this is called a tipping fee. Conversely, recyclable materials are valuable and can be sold for profit.

That said, some items that are deposited in recycling bins ultimately end up in the trash after they are sorted out at the recycling center, simply because they are deemed not recyclable in the first place and are rejected by sorting machines. This is especially true for items that are “wish-cycled,” meaning that people put them into the recycling hoping the items are recyclable when in fact they are not.

Also, occasionally, a load of recyclables is so heavily contaminated with hazardous materials or non-recyclables that it must be thrown in the trash.