BERLIN ― Sandra Dudler is a passionate recycler. Like many Germans, she carefully follows the country’s strict trash-disposal rules, which involve separating items into different bold-colored bins. “I’m very serious about putting my stuff in the right bins,” said Dudler, the creative director of a media company. She even chastises friends for buying items wrapped in too much plastic. Recycling is brewed into the culture here, and Germany’s commitment to the practice is a source of pride for some. But as the world awakens to how broken recycling systems have become, people like Dudler are grappling with uncomfortable truths. Until recently, Germany enjoyed a reputation as the world’s recycling leader. That status lost some of its shine last month when researchers published a surprising report that found a staggering amount of the country’s recyclables don’t actually end up where people think. Instead, most of it is incinerated in Germany or shipped abroad to poorer countries, where it’s sometimes dumped or burned illegally. Dudler said she was stunned to learn that all this plastic doesn’t get turned into new products. “I feel very disillusioned,” she admitted. “Why am I separating my trash if isn’t being taken care of in the end?” Germans are required by law to sort their household waste into specific categories, each with their own receptacles. In Berlin, where Dudler lives, homes and apartment buildings have yellow bins for packaging, plastic and metals; blue bins for paper and cardboard; brown bins for compostable waste and gray bins for other trash. Each neighborhood has large, centrally located containers for glass bottles.

ullstein bild via Getty Images Yellow recycling bins, for packaging, plastic and metal, await collection.

It’s partly a deep commitment to the environment that drives folks like Dudler to recycle. There are also penalties for noncompliance: at worst, a fine of up to 2,500 euros ($2,800); at best, a scolding from your building’s superintendent. A landmark report in 2017 named Germany the world’s best recycler, compared with 25 other rich nations. Germans recycle 66% of their trash, according to the researchers, who compiled their data from official sources and adjusted the numbers to account for different countries’ methods of measuring. The U.S. was 25th on the list, with Americans recycling just under 35% of their trash. The report did not mention what happens to the trash after it’s collected for recycling. The June report, which used data from the plastics industry, paints a less optimistic picture. Only 15.6% of post-consumer plastic waste actually gets made into new plastic products, according to the findings, released by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and environmental organization BUND. More than 60% of all plastic waste in Germany is burned and just 38% is recycled, the report also said. It’s worth noting that the German government counts items as “recycled” if they have been exported for that purpose. (So does the U.S.) However, the government doesn’t track these items once they cross the border. Germany is the No. 3 exporter of recycling and trash in the world, after the United States and Japan, according to the Böll/BUND report. Shipping plastic waste abroad can cost less than disposing of it properly at home. For a long time, China had been the main destination for much of the world’s exported trash: The country processed at least half of the world’s exports of waste plastic, paper and metals in 2016. But since China stopped importing plastic garbage in January 2018, countries have been scrambling to find new destinations for their detritus. Now much of that trash is flowing to Southeast Asian countries. Once there, unrecyclable imports often end up abandoned in nature or burned illegally, which releases toxic chemicals into the air. Earlier this year, German media started reporting that huge amounts of plastic packaging were being dumped in Malaysia. Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines also saw plastic importsspike from wealthy nations, including Germany and the U.S.

Joshua Paul for HuffPost Mountains of plastic waste dumped outside an illegal recycling facility in Malaysia.