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their recycling, tossing an item in the blue bin because it makes them feel less guilty about consuming it and throwing it away. Even in San Francisco, Reed kept pointing out items that aren't easily recyclable but that keep showing up at the Recology plant—soy sauce packets and pizza boxes, candy bar wrappers and dry cleaner bags, the lids of to-go coffee cups and plastic take-out containers. If we can somehow figure out to better sort recycling, some U.S. markets for plastics and paper may emerge. But selling it domestically will still be harder than it would be in a place like China, where a booming manufacturing sector has constant demand for materials. The viability of recycling varies tremendously by locale; San Francisco can recycle its glass back into bottles in six weeks, according to Recology, while many other cities are finding that glass is so heavy and breaks so easily that it is nearly impossible to truck it to a place that will recycle it. Akron, Ohio is just one of many cities that have ended glass recycling since the China policy changes. For now, it's still often cheaper for companies to manufacture using new materials than recycled ones. Michael Rohwer, a director at Business for Social Responsibility, works with companies trying to be more environmentally friendly. He told me that recycled plastic costs pennies more than new plastic, and those pennies add up when you're manufacturing millions of items. Items made of different types of plastic nearly always end up in the trash,because recyclers can't separate the plastics from one another—Reed equates it to trying to get the sugar and eggs out of a cake after you've baked it—but because companies don't bear the costs of disposal, they have no incentive to manufacture products out of material that will be easier to recycle. The best way to fix recycling is probably convincing people to buy less stuff, which would also have the benefit of reducing some of the upstream waste created when products are made. But that's a hard sell in the United States,where consumer spending accounts for 68% of the GDP. The strong economy means more people have more spending money, too, and often the things they buy—like new phones—and the places they shop—like Amazon—have figured out how to sell them even more things. The average American spent 7 percent more on food and 8 percent more on personal care products and services in 2017 than 2016, according to government data. Some places are still trying to get people to buy less. The city of San Francisco, for instance, is trying to get residents to think of a fourth "R"beyond"reduce, reuse, and recycle" "refuse." It wants people to be smarter about what they purchase, avoiding plastic bottles and straws and other disposable goods. But it's been tough in a place centered on acquiring the newest technology. "This is our big challenge—how do you take a culture like San Francisco and get people excited about less?"Debbie Raphael, director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, told me. The city passed an ordinance that required 10 percent of beverages sold be available in reusable containers and is trying to make reuse "hip"through an online campaign and dedicated website, Raphael said. San Francisco and other Bay Area cities have banned plastic bags and plastic straws,but that option isn't available in many other parts of the country, where recently passed state laws prevent cities from banning products. But even in San Francisco, the most careful consumers still generate a lot of waste. Plastic clamshell containers are difficult to recycle because the material they're made of is so flimsy— but it's hard to find berries not sold in those containers, even at most farmer's markets. Go into a