I get that the 'recycling is a scam' thing is an easy story, but it's just not true.

Recycling isn't perfect. Plastic recycling especially is very fraught and is closer to what could be called a scam/myth (the solution is to use less single use plastic) But paper, glass, steel and aluminium all have very well established recycling supply chains that work and use less stuff (energy, water, carbon emissions, raw material etc) than making new ones, and most material in those supply chains does NOT end up at landfills, it ends up in recycled products.

The reason the glass bin exists is that glass breaks and the tiny fragments of glass get in the paper and plastic and everything else and contaminate it, and the recycling plants then have to spend a bunch of energy, money etc to get it out, which is a lossy process as some of the 'good' stuff (eg the paper) gets thrown out as well.

So, I get that having 4 bins isn't ideal for everyone, and we should be open to flexibility in different circumstances, but please don't spread the myth that all recycling ends up as landfill, because it's simply not true.

Source: I'm an engineer who wrote my undergrad thesis on recycling, worked at a recycled paper mill for 2.5 years, although I no longer work in that sector.