Not completely but when the populous demanded more recycling and care for the environment. Even early on there were some serious attempts but ultimately places found china would take almost anything for recylcing so the various local systems started increasing what was allowed and they would take and the message was increasingly put almost anything in there. China balked and all of a sudden they had to deal with what they had and they had to seriously tighten up on whats allowed and put in fees for not putting the right things in. In my place you still get people putting like mulch into the recycling. I am suspicous of any sytem that does not have recycling seperated early on. Like the suburban systems were most likely recycling most when they did the blue bin and would only take a few things and you could see them being sperated into the seperated bins the special trucks had for glass, plastic, metal, and paper.

I can say I was part of a recycling club in small college and we had seperate paper and bottle bins. The pesident was seperating the bottles into plastic, glass, and aluminimum. I was mostly putting up signage and emptying bins around campus to a central local (the club was small I had a club title because we barely had enough to field it and some where name only). Anyway aluminum made a profit and paper basically could cover itself. Plastic was the most expensive for the amount and glass was less so. We paid for the losing recycling with the money from aluminum and club funds (clubs got some money from the school each semester). This combined with the work we did to keep it going.

I suspect any recycling not be seperated. Paper in particular has to remain clean and dry. Combining it ruins it and its barely can stay even as it is. If ruined by food or water it maybe could be mulched (I think municipal mulching systems likely work. jeez I hope anyway). Most metals likely do get recycled as they have value. You know things that really can be recycled because they have places that will take it and pay you for it. My municipal provider throws everything into a standard garbage type truck and crushes it during pickup like other garbage. As I said my neighbors regularly spoil the recycling containers which then get mixed with the other condo ones so if one did not get spoiled it is now and its further mixed with ones form other condos in the area where if they are recycling saints whatever they have is spoils. They likely have some way of seperating out metal or such in bulk but I bet the large majority now goes to landfills. My hope is some of the chemical process ones can work out and maybe they can even treat the mass to where it would sorta melt out the plastic although I can’t see that working with paper mixed in.