Recycling has been a hot button topic in Grant County as of late due to a change in the policy at the landfill. People are up in arms and disgusted by the fact that they can only recycle cardboard. China gets a lot of the blame on social media platforms as they have stopped accepting recyclable material from anyone, including the United States.

As usual, the 'solutions' proposed on social media miss the point completely, as do the fingers they are pointing at various entities. Lack of knowledge about recycling, AKA ignorance, is the biggest part of the problem. Dare I say that the fingers should be turned right around and pointed at themselves rather than anyone else, if blame truly has to be fixed on someone.

The first question that has to be asked, is why aren't there more recycling businesses in the United States? Why are we shipping our trash all the way to China? Is it burdensome regulation that increases costs to the point that recycling is not a profitable business? In part, yes it is. Once again, American businesses can't compete with China in part because of the extra expense created by onerous regulations.

That is not the biggest problem with recycling however, because China is also rejecting recycling as a viable business. The biggest problem is you, the conscientious consumer. Mark Oldfield heads California's state recycling agency. You would think that California, which spearheaded many of the recycling programs we see today, might have figured this out. OK, it's California and they don't do many things right, but Oldfield points the finger at the consumer.

Oldfield says that most of what is put in recycling bins ends up in the landfill because people engage in 'wishful recycling' rather than being informed about what can and cannot be recycled. He explains wishful recycling as people thinking something should be recycled, so they put it in the bin without asking if it CAN be recycled, or paying attention to what goes in each bin.

Oldfield says they often receive soiled diapers, batteries, broken glass in the bins; all things that can't be recycled. But more importantly, consumers mix materials and don't pay attention to what they are putting in marked bins.

For example, people will mix plastic and papers. Or they will put un-rinsed glass bottles or jars in the recycling bin. Those glass jars have to be washed before recycling, due to environmental regulation that don't allow them to melt them down as is. That can take 3-5 gallons of water per jar, which is too much water, especially in CA.

But even more subtly, paper envelopes with a plastic window cannot be put in the paper recycling bins, as the plastic gums up the works. Neither can pizza boxes that have grease and cheese infused into the cardboard. Or even newspapers that have been used to line birdcages. All of these have to be separated and discarded prior to recycling since it gums up the works. That has to be done by hand which is not only inefficient but expensive.

Recycling is a laudable goal, without a doubt. But like many things, it takes effort on the part of the participants. That can be inconvenient, which we know in today's society we don't want to be inconvenienced, no matter how important the goal may be.

Before you go blaming China or any other big bad business, take a look in the mirror. Maybe, just maybe, if we correct our behavior, some entrepreneur will come along, see an opportunity, and take a chance.