People in good faith toss empty containers in their recycling bins in the belief that these materials will be refashioned into new packaging materials. But for glass and plastics in particular, that’s just not the case. Though much attention has been paid in recent years to the huge volume of glass needlessly ending up in landfills, the record for plastics isn’t much better. Only about a quarter of the plastic waste sent off to be recycled ends up being repurposed. After China closed its doors to plastic exports, a lot of what can’t be triaged locally is just discarded, taking centuries to decompose.