My late wife was from South America. In her country, there are (or were, ten years ago) two types of plastic soda bottles: disposable, and reusable. The reusable type were made of much thicker, heavier plastic so they could be taken back to the bottling plant, washed and (hopefully) sterilized, and reused. They made no pretenses about "recycling" the disposable ones. Those went into the regular trash.
Going beyond bottles, IMHO the most effective form of recycling is direct reuse. I know of some small towns around my state that have an area at their town dump or transfer station where people can leave things that still work, but which they no longer want or need. One, in particular, has a building about the size of a 2-car garage for that stuff. Anyone can walk in, poke around, and take whatever they want. Free.
My snooty town, of course, won't do that. Fortunately, the attendants sometimes turn a blind eye if someone somehow misses the dumpster with a perfectly good bicycle their spawn outgrew, and it sits on the ground until someone grabs it. I've gotten bicycles that way that I cleaned up for kids who needed them. Even got a 5,000 watt Coleman generator that way.
