It depends a lot on the kind of material being recycled. Paper has been getting recycled very effectively for decades. Metals are pretty recyclable. Plastic is notoriously hard, especially the thin plastic from bags, apparently.
Whatever the case, it shouldn't be dumped in rivers.
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Recycling is a pipe dream. In fact it means shipping tones of garbage to 3rd world country and let them do the grunt work. Out of sight out of mind.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/burning-truth-...
https://www.spiegel.de/international/tomorrow/electronic-was...
It depends a lot on the kind of material being recycled. Paper has been getting recycled very effectively for decades. Metals are pretty recyclable. Plastic is notoriously hard, especially the thin plastic from bags, apparently.
Whatever the case, it shouldn't be dumped in rivers.