All the places I've worked here in Alberta (I do temp jobs in between and during college) have extensive recycling programs. Right outside my current office room (and conveniently located inside the building) are several HUGE blue bins for paper, cans, glass, plastic, etc.

All the colleges I've attended both here in Alberta and also in Manitoba over the past 10 years have had similar recycling programs.

My apartment building in Manitoba got recycling blue bins about 6 years I ago, and the place I live now has had recycling even longer than that.

A quick glance in the phone book and I see 32 recycling businesses in this local area containing maybe 100,000 -120,000 people.

So ... sdime, rest assured that at least Canadian cyclists aren't just tossing out their old bicycle bottles and other plastics. And I suspect that there are similar recycling programs in other countries too.