Given the current picture, perhaps most interesting in retrospect is this 1996 article (which apparently set a record for hate mail) and its sequel from 2015:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9757853 Recycling is Garbage (1996) (55 comments) - https://archive.is/JKG7y
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10327585 The Reign of Recycling (34 comments) - https://archive.is/o8LBm
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2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24454067 Oil Companies Touted Recycling to Sell More Plastic (232 comments)
2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24441979 How Big Oil Misled the Public into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled (310 comments)
2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24440516 Pringles tube tries to wake from 'recycling nightmare' (394 comments)
2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23040674 Plastics pile up as coronavirus hits Asia recyclers (19 comments)
2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22927072 'Horrible hybrids': the plastic products that give recyclers nightmares (40 comments)
2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22741635 Industry spent millions selling recycling, to sell more plastic (105 comments)
2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22467015 Coke and Pepsi are getting sued for lying about recycling (170 comments)
2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22318165 Is Recycling a Waste of Time? (94 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21837414 Recycling Rethink: What to Do with Trash Now China Won’t Take It (152 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21742196 The Great Recycling Con [video] (77 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21303618 How Coca-Cola Undermines Plastic Recycling Efforts (132 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21297639 All plastic waste could be recycled into new plastic: researchers (150 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21102560 We asked three companies to recycle plastic and only one did (64 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21043986 Exposing the Myth of Plastic Recycling (17 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20762789 Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why (215 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20728911 Smart plastic incineration posited as solution to global recycling crisis (84 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20726689 'Plastic recycling is a myth': what really happens to your rubbish (63 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549804 Americans' plastic recycling is dumped in landfills (282 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20433851 Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated (336 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20134641 I work in the environmental movement. I don’t care if you recycle (15 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19889365 Why Recycling Doesn't Work (216 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19844551 Reycling Plastic from the Inside Out (46 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19799348 Bikes, bowling balls, and the balancing act that is modern recycling (2015) (35 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728391 Just 10% of U.S. plastic gets recycled. A new kind of plastic could change that (116 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19483074 America Finally Admits Recycling Doesn’t Work (35 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19399543 The World's Recycling Is in Chaos. Here's What Has to Happen (25 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19346342 What Happens Now That China Won't Take U.S. Recycling (219 comments)
2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18893252 The Era of Easy Recycling May Be Coming to an End (84 comments)
2018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17841584 Recycling in the United States is in serious trouble. How does it work? (94 comments)
2018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17677698 Trash piles up in US as China closes door to recycling (272 comments)
2018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17495872 Californians love to recycle, but it's no longer doing any good (14 comments)
2018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17409152 Plastic recycling is a problem consumers can't solve (441 comments)
2018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16856246 An enzyme that digests plastic could boost recycling (122 comments)
2018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16174719 Plastics Pile Up as China Refuses to Take the West’s Recycling (71 comments)
2017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15888827 Recycling Chaos in U.S. As China Bans 'Foreign Waste' (233 comments)
2017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15528740 China Bans Foreign Waste – What Will Happen to the World's Recycling? (63 comments)
2016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11083898 Is it time to rethink recycling? (147 comments)
2015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10327585 The Reign of Recycling (34 comments)
2015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9757853 Recycling is Garbage (1996) (55 comments)
2014 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7778956 Is Recycling Worth It? (13 comments)
2010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1186666 Recycling is Bullshit; Make Nov. 15 Zero Waste Day, not America Recycles Day (18 comments)
2009 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=937097 The Recycling Myth (36 comments)