It is easy to romanticize the recycling process. We would like to believe that when we discard a plastic item in the recycling bin, we are off the hook, environmentally speaking. What is the harm if my brief use ends with my giving that bottle or plastic berry clam shell another life, to be repeated again and again down the line of users?

Odds are that the plastic bottle we place in our recycling bin will never again form another plastic bottle, or even a portion of one.