This is supposed to be a surprise?

It's very simple: If you have to pay to recycle things, it's a failure. If they pay you, it works.

China used to buy plastic recycling from the US (it was never just shipped for disposal, China actually paid for it). For a while they actually wanted it because they could use it to make new stuff. But it become uneconomical (too labor intensive), and they stopped.

Metal: You have people hunting for metal, and going through bins for it. i.e. it's good to recycle.

Cardboard: Same thing.

Everything else? Don't recycle it. Burn the plastic for energy, and bury everything else. Sweden actually buys garbage from other countries to burn for energy. Since they are paying for the item, this works just fine.