We do have a few drop-off bins, but I have to drive to each of them. The going explanation is that, since we do sorting at the facility, it’s not worth exposing workers to broken glass, which is inevitable when mixing all recyclables into one garbage truck. So people have two options: drive to a drop-off location (each a few miles away and not on the way to anything) or just toss it in the trash. So, most people just toss it in the trash.
Being forced to separate caps from bottles of very exotic as well
The plastic in the caps is different from the plastic in the bottles and cannot be recycled together. I guess it’s not worth the time for them to separate at the plant (plastic recycling isn’t profitable as it is), so they put that responsibility onto trash customers (in other words, they want an excuse to just toss bottles w/ caps still on them).
I’m talking about these bottle caps btw. They’re everywhere here (milk jugs, soda, bigger ones for pasta sauce, etc).
I’m guessing more urban areas have better recycling policies since they don’t have massive landfills available for dumping.