Is there some reason the articles never say that clearly? I don't really understand the angle they're taking.
I mean this specific article actually interviews someone that's added a robot machine for sorting plastic bottles. Presumably the idea is that this is economically sound, and whether it is or not, it seems like it should have been spelled out.
Feels like they wanted to leave the impression that it's uneconomic to recycle, bit didn't actually have facts to back that up.
If you're interested in this topic I highly recommend Adam Minter as better source on this stuff. He adopts a strictly economic perspective on the recycling trade which makes way more sense.
