Most of us toss our plastic bottles, food containers, and packaging into the recycling bin with a sense of satisfaction. We’re doing our part. We assume those items will be collected, processed, and turned into something new. But the reality is more complex—and often more troubling—than most people realize.

At Real Cycle, we believe that solving the plastic waste crisis starts with understanding it. That means dispelling some persistent myths and looking clearly at what really happens when you recycle plastic.

Myth #1: Most plastics get recycled.

Reality: In the U.S., less than 5% of plastic waste is actually recycled into new products.
This figure comes from the EPA and independent waste studies. While millions of tons of plastic waste are collected for recycling each year, the vast majority is landfilled, or exported.

The root problem? Most plastic packaging is made from dozens of different types of resins, colors, and chemical additives. Many of these cannot be easily or economically recycled. Even seemingly recyclable items—like clamshell containers or colored detergent bottles—often don’t make the cut.

Myth #2: If it has a recycling symbol, it will be recycled.

Reality: The chasing arrows symbol does not guarantee recyclability.
The number inside that triangle (typically 1–7) indicates the type of plastic resin used. But only #1 (PET) and #2 (HDPE) plastics—like water bottles and milk jugs—are reliably recycled in most U.S. facilities. The rest are rarely processed, either due to contamination, market value, or lack of local infrastructure.

Worse, these symbols can give consumers false confidence, leading to what’s called “wishcycling”—putting non-recyclables in the bin in hopes they’ll get recycled. This can actually contaminate entire batches and cause more waste to be landfilled.

Myth #3: Recycled plastic becomes the same product again.

Reality: Most recycled plastic is “downcycled.”
Unlike glass or aluminum, which can be recycled indefinitely, plastic degrades each time it’s reprocessed. A PET bottle might be turned into fiber for clothing or carpet, not another bottle. Eventually, that material becomes waste again. It’s not a closed loop—it’s a slow slide toward the landfill.

This is why recycling as we know it cannot solve the plastic problem. It buys time but doesn’t create true reuse.

Myth #4: Recycling is free and simple.

Reality: Recycling plastic is complex, costly, and market-dependent.
Sorting, cleaning, and processing plastics requires labor, energy, water, and specialized machinery. And because virgin plastic made from fossil fuels is far cheaper and of higher quality, recycled plastic struggles to compete—especially when oil prices are low.

This means that even when plastics can be recycled, they usually aren’t, because there’s no viable market for the output.

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So What Really Happens?

Here’s a rough sketch of the life cycle of your plastic recyclables:

1. Curbside Collection – Plastics are picked up and taken to a materials recovery facility (MRF).
2. Sorting – Machines and workers separate plastics by resin type and color. Contaminants like food, grease, or the wrong type of plastic are removed—sometimes by discarding entire batches.
3. Baling and Shipping – Sorted plastics are compressed into bales and sold to processors (domestic or overseas).
4. Processing – Plastics are shredded, washed, and melted into pellets for remanufacture. Many items don’t make it to this step.
5. Reuse or Disposal – The small fraction that becomes new products enters the market again; the rest is landfilled.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

Plastic recycling is not a sham—but it’s also not the miracle solution it’s often made out to be. It’s one tool in a much larger toolbox that includes redesigning packaging, reducing use, investing in advanced recycling and conversion technologies, and most importantly, developing scalable end markets for waste plastics.

At Real Cycle, we focus on these systemic solutions—ones that go beyond the bin. Our mission is to increase the amount of plastic that actually gets reused, reprocessed, or repurposed in ways that are economically viable.

The bottom line: Putting plastic in the blue bin is only the beginning. To truly make a difference, we need to end the cycle of disposal—and invest in real, scalable change; we need to Real Cycle.