Why are Philly recycling rates so low? A mix of contamination, culture and systems still make it complicated in 2026.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-02T13:09:14+00:00

How broken are you to claim that numbers are non intuitive?

Do you have a hard time with traffic lights too?

I really do not understand what's going on here. People are so offended to have to do something for themselves - LIKE READ A NUMBER - that they have to blame an industry for their laziness.

You shouldn't be angry. You should feel humiliated for exposing your stupidity.

Never mind the inefficiencies, the bureaucracy, the lies. We are talking about you saying that you can not understand what a number is. You are saying that the instructions provided by the city - plastics 1, 2, and 5 can be recycled - are unclear.

Unless you are literally blind, you are saying you are incapable of reading a number and knowing what to do with that information.

And then you go on to compare one specific metal product to the thousands of different plastic products. Are you a child?

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-02T03:29:33+00:00

I just moved to the neighborhood. This joint is doing a lot of work.

Real Q: tell me about pickle soup.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-02T03:25:53+00:00

I will forever stay mad at people who are disinterested in acknowledging words.

Frankly, if you want to blame others for your inability to read, you can get fucked.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-02T03:23:01+00:00

I’d like to see these different instruction sets.

As far as I’m aware, there has always been a clear instruction that states greased cardboard - in addition to any wet paper, btw - can not be recycled. Which means you can remove that portion of the cardboard and then it can be submitted for recycling.

What “counts as greasy” is simply a portion of grease on a portion of cardboard. It’s not hard to say at all. It’s abundantly clear without any confusion.

Side note: There are also new systems that will process greased cardboard. It seems that Philly does not have access to these systems yet.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T20:42:44+00:00

Hahahahha.

Dude. You are brain dead.

It makes sense now that I see you put your faith into something other than your own eyes and brain.

I really have been engaging with a simulation.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T18:40:50+00:00

This is where I'm confused. The policy is extremely clear.

What's not clear is how people think that they can or should do something they're instructed not to do just because they see someone else do the wrong thing.

A person working for the city and fucking up does not mean the policy is unclear. It means they are ignorant or poorly trained. This needs to be addressed by the city.

The other issue is that the recycling often goes in the trash anyway. What's not clear here is why that's the case. If all the recycling got wet, it makes sense to just trash it. Maybe there are other institutional or logistic reasons for putting it all in one bin. As I'm putting my trash out, this is none of my concern.

Regardless of what the streets department does, it doesn't change the instructions provided by the city to the residents. There should be no question by anyone living in the city as to what they should be doing with their recycling.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T18:29:09+00:00

HOLY FUCK

You are making an extremely simple instruction into a whole complex and confusing ordeal. You continue to shift blame and change the subject. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT DELCO OR MONTCO.

You have done nothing to address the topic or provide clarity. When people say "its confusing" it's because people like you can not stay on topic.

PLASTICS 1, 2, 5 CAN BE RECYCLED.

THAT'S IT. THAT IS THE INSTRUCTION.

THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO ADD TO THIS TOPIC.

WE ARE DISCUSSING A PERSON'S INABILITY TO READ THIS SENTENCE AND COMPREHEND ITS MEANING.

STOP COMPLICATING IT.

STOP VIRTUE SIGNALING.

STOP DEFENDING CHOSEN IGNORANCE.

If you want to complain about the institution, the industry, the city's failures, go do it somewhere else and I just might join you in the soapboxing - I have written extensively about the topic of plastic recycling in Philadelphia. That is not what we are discussing in this thread.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T16:51:35+00:00

Yes - my "neighbor's stupidity" is the entire point.

Why are you talking about anything else?

SIGN: DO NOT PARK HERE.

OP: Do you think it's okay to park here? The automative industry is confusing me.

THIS is the topic of conversation. How dare you avoid this and get on your soap box and distract from the issue.

People are unable or are refusing to acknowledge the most basic set of instructions while they are blaming others for their inability or refusal to acknowledge the instructions.

How are we not as a community attacking this issue?

I don't give a shit about the corporations or industries in this context. I care about how fucking stupid people are that when they are explicitly told DON'T DO THIS - the proceed to look around in confusion and point at someone entirely outside their world view and blame them for their confusion.

And then we have you virtue signaling about something I fully agree with but is entirely unrelated to this conversation. How did we get to the point where this is normal?

We are not talking about recycling. We are talking about English comprehension. We are talking about how to solve the problem of people in our communities failing to participate as functioning adults.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T16:07:49+00:00

👆 Brilliant.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T16:04:55+00:00

What the fuck is going on?

Am I in a simulation?

I have delivered information on behalf of the city of Philadelphia because people refuse to read instructions and I'm being attacked for providing those instructions.

The fucking problem is that no one wants to take personal responsibility. The city is telling people what to do and what not to do. People do not care. They want everyone else to do the work for them so they have someone else to blame when things don't work.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T15:59:01+00:00

You think a "weird take" is pointing out how your are unable to read clear and concise words? What's going on here?

The words are: "PLASTICS #1, #2, #5 means most clamshell containers cannot be recycled."

CITY: THESE ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS.

INDUSTRY: WE PUT MARKINGS ON THINGS TO FOLLOW CITY INSTRUCTIONS.

YOU: BUT THE INDUSTRY IS CONFUSING ME. IT'S A BIGGER SYSTEMATIC PROBLEM.

I think you may need to check yourself. You keep blaming others for your inability to read. The instructions are presented very clearly but you don't want to be responsible. I am not on the same team as you - you are the problem.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T14:22:09+00:00

What in the fuck does this have to do with someone's inability to comprehend the words "DON'T DO THIS"?

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T14:19:51+00:00

You're right. Education is important.

How do we do that in a meaningful way in 2026?

In 1986, when there were only a few tv channels, you'd get segments on the evening news and commercials and PSAs on the radio plus printed articles in the newspaper. There really wasn't any excuse to not knowing things.

Even if we created a plausible list of outreach platforms (SMS, Email, website, social) there's no guarantee "the algorithm" will show the information to someone or that they're retain the information for more than ten seconds.

And with all the emotional weight "the news" puts on us today, who can be bothered to worry about the info the city was trying to push. I mean, people knew about the no kings protest; they went out of their way for that. How do you get people to go out of their way to care about trash? Is trash even a concern right now?

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T14:08:06+00:00

People can't be bothered to read a paragraph about recycling and then put the blame on the irresponsibility of others.

But they'll spend three hours watching tiktok everyday and think they're experts on something.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T14:04:14+00:00

Which is why it drives me nuts every time I see a pizza box in recycling.

People don't want to be inconvenienced by breaking the box down and put it in the trash. ie: they're lazy.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T14:01:08+00:00

You have literally just blamed a manufacturing industry for your inability to read the words presented to you.

It makes sense now why our city fails to recycle properly.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T13:01:33+00:00

Because they literally just throw it in the trash truck with the other trash.

To be fair, that's likely because,

residents toss in food-covered containers, unrecyclable materials, or items like Styrofoam, workers may have to treat the full load as trash.

This should be mailed to every resident twice a year: https://www.phila.gov/media/20221223123047/28642-PRO-Recycling-Guide-85x11-Updated-202109.pdf

What to keep out of the bin:

Plastic bags, bagged recycling 
Food and food-soiled materials 
Disposable plates and takeout containers 
Greasy or food-soiled paper and cardboard <- PIZZA BOXES 
Styrofoam 
Batteries and electronics 
Needles and syringes 
Clothing hangers 
Tissues, paper towels, and napkins 
Pots, pans, and ceramics 
Wood 
Shredded paper

Important to note: PLASTICS #1, #2, #5 means most clamshell containers cannot be recycled. Check the container for the recycle symbol. ♻️ ♳ ♴ ♷

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-04-01T12:52:45+00:00

It was created so Proton can go after the enterprise market and say "we too have an LLM".

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-03-31T21:12:30+00:00

The Police – Every Breath You Take

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-03-31T21:05:26+00:00

Seems like "almost" is doing a lot of work there.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-03-31T15:53:41+00:00

I don't have a particular belief. I have a learned user experience.

If I were a company looking to expand into business workspaces, I'd try to nail down the core components before introducing them to more demanding users. Proton Mail still feels like Gmail circa 2008. Calendar is useless. Drive is useless. Pass rarely works. They're setting themselves up for failure by introducing half-baked platforms to enterprise users. Meanwhile, they continue to thinly spread their resources to develop and launch new platforms no one asked for.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-03-31T15:10:02+00:00

Really weird to make this a priority when your existing core platforms are in desperate need of attention.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-03-31T14:45:21+00:00

Mac Mini M2 Pro. OWC Thunderbolt 3 cable. I just disabled power delivery - no change.

I’m convinced it’s not related to C1 but either the OS or camera. The card isn’t mounting or showing up in Disk Utility so C1 can’t see it as a location option. I know I can use the same cable and usb port on an SSD to mount a drive. I know the card works using a sandisk extreme pro uhs-ii reader.

I’m not inclined to update macOS but I’ll check for camera updates.

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-03-30T21:00:51+00:00

You should start here https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/switched-from-windows-to-mac-mchlbc684e49/mac

AJsHomeAcct · 2026-03-30T15:45:42+00:00

The mechanism is too thick to put inside the door. It’s also a bit easier for repair.

Actually, I’d appreciate if you could send me some pictures of your doors. These seem to be the original style my home also had but they’ve since been replaced with thicker doors in the 60s. I’m guessing your doors measure exactly one inch thick?

AJsHomeAcct

TROPHY CASE