Fellow Seattleites: is our recycling ACTUALLY being recycled?

Every now and then, I hear some off-hand, unsubstantiated comment about how, for all the efforts everyone makes to sort their trash and recycling, it all just goes to the landfill anyway. Or on a barge to China or whatever.

I live with my wife, children and my mother-in-law, who is extra fastidious about our garbage and recycling. She removes all the labels from soup cans, rinses everything with hot water, etc., but I often think: “if most other people are NOT doing that, what good does it do?” Are there REALLY people at the transfer centers, watching a conveyor belt of stuff from the blue bins, pulling out improper items?

I’m happy to sort our stuff — it’s not that big of a lift. But I regularly wonder if it’s all performative rather than actually “helpful” to the ecosystem.

Do any of you know one way or the other? Thanks!