[freeone3000]

Single-stream recycling is a good alternative to this, and has been implemented in Austin. They essentially take your idea to the limit - if someone has to go through it anyway, why not just put it all in one big bin and sort it out later? So they do. Mostly works?

[dpkonofa]

According to the article, that doesn't work at all, though. Not only does the stuff not get sorted properly in the end but things that could have potentially been recycled are now unable to be recycled because they're contaminated.

That doesn't sound like a "mostly works" scenario except in the most bare definition of the phrase.

[ada1981]

I think it “mostly works” for the company with the cushy contract to provide single stream recycling.