Skeptoid #932: Is Recycling for Real?

A century-old hoax takes wing again, proof that good stories never stay buried. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices 

If ghosts don't exist, then how do we account for all the ghost experiences that people have every day? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices 

Mediterranean archaeologist Dr. Flint Dibble will be our resident expert on the real history (and the fake history) at our ports of call when Skeptoid Adventures sails from Málaga, Spain to Nice, France this April. He is perhaps best known for his 2024 destruction of pseudo-archa ... Show More

We talk about the over-reliance on recycling rather than reducing the use of plastics 

For many, recycling feels like a tangible way to personally combat climate change and to positively affect the environment. But after a years long investigation, NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan finds that reality is generally the opposite: Only a small fraction of plastic is ult ... Show More

Waste, trash, garbage – whatever you call it, unwanted materials have become a major presence in many of our lives and our environment. Every year it is estimated that humans around the world produce 2 billion metric tonnes of waste. Listener Clare from Devon in the UK wants to s ... Show More

An estimated 32% of the recycling we send off to sorting centers actually gets recycled. Why is this? The nature of sorting recycling by hand is time consuming, messy, and dangerous, and the human error involved in this process is enormous. Enter AMP Robotics, a Denver-based comp ... Show More

<p>It’s been about a decade since Josh and Chuck last checked in on recycling and since then a lot has changed. A global commodities market dealing in recyclables has developed and recently crashed. Jump back into the fascinating world of recycling. </p><p> </p> Learn more about ... Show More

Recycling plastic has never worked very well. So who convinced us this was a good idea? In this episode, we might have the answer. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. 

<p>Where does your recycling go? In most places in the U.S., you throw it in a bin, and then it gets carted off to be sorted and cleaned at a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). From there, much of it is shipped off to mills, where bales of paper, glass, aluminum, and plastic are ... Show More

Could recycling to save money be the answer to saving the planet? For decades, wealthy countries have been shipping their waste to China for sorting and recycling. Now China is getting wealthier, it no longer wants to be a dumping ground. So could we take another look at the cold ... Show More

<p>Recycling has come a long way since its debut -- and so have landfills. In this twofer HowStuffWorks podcast, discover the realities of modern recycling and find out why the world's largest landfill might be more aptly described as an "oceanfill."</p><p> </p> Learn more about ... Show More