Last week Tactile visited Recology’s recycling center in Seattle to get an idea of where our trash goes and how it’s repurposed. Recology’s mission is to “create a world without waste by developing and discovering sustainable resource recovery practices that can be implemented globally.” Just let that sit with you for a minute and imagine living in a world without waste. Recology wants to educate in order to advocate and initiate change. A few highlights from our visit: 1) Seattle fills a mile long, double-decker train with garbage to Oregon every day because we create way too much garbage and we’ve run out of landfill space, 2) in America alone, each person produces about three pounds of trash per day (not including recyclables), 3) the recycling logo on products and packaging doesn’t always mean it’s recyclable, 4) depending on the recyclable, it gets processed at various locations: bottles are local, cans are sent to California, and much of the plastics are sent overseas, and 5) although much of the sorting is still done by hand at the facilities, they use a machine that’s equipped with AI and IR to identify and eject plastic into the recycling bins using compressed air. Check out our Instagram post for more photos and videos from our visit. And now, consider yourself informed—reduce and recycle responsibly!