I got to tour a new recycling facility in my home town last year.<p>It's neat seeing the increase in automation and improvement in processes.<p>> Getting as many residents as possible to even consider recycling is the obvious first benchmark for any successful program. In Sarasota County, 94 percent of households recycle, while within Sarasota’s city limits, the rate is 75 percent. In Manatee County, it’s just 56 percent.<p>I think if we're really serious, our long term goal shouldn't be about getting people (at least Americans) to put in the individual effort. It's improving sorting at the waste site.<p>Ideally I think everything should go into one bin to be collected and sorted later. We need Wall-E.<p>And replacing hard to recycle materials with ones that are easy to or compostable.