To place items in your curbside recycling bin that you wish could be recycled, but really can’t.
Wish-cycling does more harm than good and it’s an easy trap to fall into (for me too!). Adding non-recyclable items to the recycling stream creates more work for the people that need to sort through all the materials and increases the likelihood that the end product will be contaminated. In this case, one bad apple does spoil the whole bunch. There’s a saying, “when in doubt, throw it out,” which feels painful but is better in the end.