rows of crushed plastic bottles

Piles of trash, sitting in warehouses

Last Updated: February 19, 2026Tags:

By Katharine Gammon

Too much of L.A.’s plastic waste never gets recycled.

Every day in Los Angeles, responsible, environmentally concerned residents go to the effort of tossing landfill-bound garbage in one trash container and recyclable waste in another, and then keep that separation going with their curbside bins — blue for recyclables, black for mixed garbage. Yet, while all that effort may seem both virtuous and valuable, a shocking amount of it is doing the environment no good at all.

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