Americans are often regarded as wasteful people and it has been said that if everyone consumed like people in the United States, it would require the resources of four planet Earths.

This is largely true.

However, the recycling stations and thrift shops I come across in New York defy such an image. They make me feel Americans, or New Yorkers at least, are less wasteful than Chinese people who blissfully believe frugality is an inherent virtue of the nation even as they consume and discard.