@virtulis Ironically styrofoam is actually more recyclable in practice than almost all of this food/cosmetics packaging that's branded as "recyclable"

@virtulis (Because IIRC it can both be used in pulverized form for eg. insulation, and also chemically recycled without bonding strength issues like most plastic applications have)

@joepie91 TIL. Well the recyclers here generally don't want it in any form (they might be simplifying it in hopes no one throws in the brittle kind and contaminates everything).

Still, I'm still furious at this takeout box (which could've easily been cardboard) (which tbh would probably be lined with plastic or some PFAS crap anyway).

Edit: sorry about the edits, was trying to get my terminology right, gave up.

@virtulis It varies a lot from place to place, usually there's no curbside collection stream for it because the volume is too low, and it can be difficult for people to accurately judge whether something is PS or not.

But a lot of places *will* accept bags of the stuff at drive-in collection centers, though sometimes only the 'lots of small balls' type and not the pressed type like takeaway containers.

@virtulis (Sidenote: in a lot of places, any cardboard handed in for recycling must be free of grease and dirt, so even if it were purely cardboard, you still wouldn't be able to recycle such a food container. It'd only have a benefit in terms of biodegradability.)

@joepie91 yep, same here, and perfectly reasonable imo. I usually try to cut up pizza boxes etc into the clean and dry parts and the "at least it will degrade" parts. And some of those even serve a second life as a dish for the stray cats :D

@joepie91 re takeout specifically I've been hoping for a while now that one of the delivery companies here comes up with some centralized standard of actual reusable food packaging (that could then be returned with next order). Idk how many food safety issues would need to be solved for that but I'm not aware of any attempts.

@virtulis It would certainly be viable; this is how bottle recycling for eg. soft drinks *used* to work here. Standardized bottles (not even glass, but thick plastic!) that got cleaned and reused after collection.