Is what we're recycling actually getting recycled?

Is what we're recycling actually getting recycled? As the waste collectors cart your recyclables away, you’re suddenly hit by some terrible questions: Where do those materials go once they're picked up? Will they will actually be recycled? How do you know they’re not just going to end up in a <a href="http://people.howstuffworks.com/landfill.htm">landfill</a>? <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/enlarge-image.htm?terms=landfill&gallery=1&page=0">Landfill Image Gallery</a> At first, people had to separate their recycling. <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic.htm">Plastics</a> went in one bin, glass in another, paper in a third. But with the introduction of single-stream collection, people can put all of their recyclables in one place. With such a radical shift from deliberate sorting to a hodge-podge method, it appeared that recycling collection companies were confirming a skeptic's subtle fear: Our recyclables aren’t actually being recycled. What’s worse, the ...  more