Unfortunately it seems that in many places, that's pretty much what they're doing instead of doing any actual recycling. If you collect more than you're capable of processing, you inevitably just end up with an ever growing TO-DO pile.

The sad thing is, if you pretend to recycle instead of actually recycling, you're just a landfill operator. And landfills can be run profitably.

Isn't the entire landfill really a huge TODO anyway?

"We'll let some magic future AI figure this out. Meanwhile, we'll put dirt on it"

Not all TODOs are created equal. Example:

//TODO: Collisions are too common here. Implement a custom hashing function to improve the performance of this algorithm

//TODO: This class is 60k lines and has no tests. Replace it

In my city, there is a GIANT pile of glass sitting on a slab near a landfill. The commodity price of glass is so low it's not worth selling, so they just store it in hopes of maybe one day selling it. I doubt that will happen and I suspect it's just been put into the landfill by now.

Glass recycling generally makes little sense because the raw materials are abundant and recycling glass takes a lot of energy.

In Sweden, where the main glass recycler claims we're world-leading glass recyclers, the claim is that recycling saves 20% of the energy. That is not nothing ...

20% Energy savings probably have a hard time paying for the wages and the infrastructure needed.

Alabama had a glass recycling option and people were proud of it.

Turns out they were just burning the glass.

https://www.al.com/breaking/2010/05/huntsville_residents_you...

If you price externalities it can make more sense

The glass recycling in my area is hauling my glass to a container and it gets turned into fiberglass.