What really bugs me here is the misunderstanding of what "recycle" means.
Like someone else pointed out, the hierarchy is "reduce, reuse, recycle". Recycling is the option for items which are no longer usable in their present state, or for which it is not economically viable to repair the item enough to make it reusable. And recycling consists of... reclaiming the materials in the item to use in making new items. Which involves destroying the item.
Would you be upset to learn that drink containers (such as metal cans and plastic bottles) that go to a "recycling" center don't just get sterilized and refilled/re-labeled with new drinks? That instead they are destroyed to reclaim the metal or plastic in them, so that other metal or plastic items can be made of those materials? Would you condemn that as hypocritically un-environmental?
Like someone else pointed out, the hierarchy is "reduce, reuse, recycle". Recycling is the option for items which are no longer usable in their present state, or for which it is not economically viable to repair the item enough to make it reusable. And recycling consists of... reclaiming the materials in the item to use in making new items. Which involves destroying the item.
Would you be upset to learn that drink containers (such as metal cans and plastic bottles) that go to a "recycling" center don't just get sterilized and refilled/re-labeled with new drinks? That instead they are destroyed to reclaim the metal or plastic in them, so that other metal or plastic items can be made of those materials? Would you condemn that as hypocritically un-environmental?