What is single stream recycling?

Single stream- All waste goes away from your home together with everything mixed. All glass, plastic, cardboard, food waste, all gets transported together.

2 stream- Waste is divided into 2 separate categories at the curb. (trash and recyclables or dry and wet) depending on how the city has people sorting it

3 stream- might be something like 1. garbage 2. glass + plastic 3. paper + cardboard

The amount of streams just refers to how many categories its sorted into before its collected from your curb.

Single stream (also known as “fully commingled”) recycling refers to a system in
which all paper fibers and containers are mixed together in a collection truck, instead
of being sorted into separate commodities (newspaper, cardboard, plastic, glass, etc.)
by the resident and handled separately throughout the collection process. In single
stream, both the collection and processing systems must be designed to handle this
fully commingled mixture of recyclables.