Americans have no idea how to recycle. Many even find the process to be more confusing than doing their taxes.

Thats the upshot of a new study by the Grocery Manufacturers Association , which found that 92% of respondents were unclear about what they should put into the recycling bin. People either think that everything marked with a plastic resin label is good for curbside recycling or theyre unsure about sorting recyclables in general, according to the study.

Twenty-three percent of study respondents said they found recycling to be more confusing than doing their taxes. (Considering that most people do their taxes only once a year but they probably throw stuff out every day, its a wonder no ones come up with a TurboTax for sorting trash.) Twenty-six percent said recycling was more confusing than building IKEA furniture.

Just 9.1% of plastic gets recycled in the U.S., probably because hardly anyone knows what theyre doing. In the GMA study, 60% of participants said they believed that plastic shopping bags can go in curbside recycling (they cannot ), while 55% said they believed plastic straws could be recycled in this way (also not true ).

Who could blame consumers for being confused about recycling rules in the U.S.? Plastic products that bear a triangle-shaped recycling symbol , bewilderingly, arent always recyclable.