Governments have spent decades telling the public of the importance of recycling and separating their waste. And a major ally in these efforts has been a little triangle made of curving arrows that is supposed to symbolize that a material can be recycled. But ultimately, recycling has failed to make a sizable impact on the plastic pollution across the world. POLITICO’s Eline Schaart explains why. Anthony Adragna is an energy reporter for POLITICO.Eline Schaart  covers sustainability for POLITICO Europe.Carlos Prieto is a Politico podcast producer.Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO audio.Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices