Recycling - What Happened To???

We recently switched our waste company/recycling company due to a rather drastic price increase - almost $10 - that our current-at-the-time garbage hauler was demanding. However, it is the list of things that we can recycle that bothers me.

Nothing has changed since our switch, but there are so many things that are not recyclable around here. It makes me wonder what happened to the whole "Recycle for a cleaner America" that we grew up with.

In this area of Vermont, we can recycle #1 plastics, #2 plastics only if they are not "wide-mouthed" which means no yogurt, cottage cheese, margarine/butter containers and similar. Some cardboard is okay, but not pizza boxes, even if they are clean and grease free. Newspaper is fine, as are magazines and white paper. Cans are okay only if they've been washed thoroughly first. Glass is okay, though our old provider did send out a notice saying clear glass only - no colored. Absolutely no styrofoam, #3 plastic, #6 plastic or #7 plastic. Wood scraps must be placed in with your garbage.

So in the long run, I get more and more frustrated with the entire deal. After receiving a letter a year ago stating that they were not making money off #6 plastic anymore so they would no longer accept it, I became outraged. When did recycling become for profit over saving the environment?

I'm curious - what do other communities accept for recyclables? Is Vermont, who battle for 30 years to build a small-scale highway because it will create more pollution, just out of whack? We can have garbage dumps filled with things that can't biodegrade, but we can't finish the Circ highway that began 30 years ago? It seems insane to me!