> the extra labor you put into sorting waste *is* the whole point, as it exists to assuage guilt.

So most recycling isn't financially viable in the first place, but if it was close, sorting would be the thing that made it viable. For example, if you're recycling plastics, you'd probably need for each separate chemical and each separate color to be in a different bin in order for the output to be worth anyone paying for.

Likewise for glass. If the glass is green, it needs to go in a bin for green glass. If the glass is brown, it needs to go into a bin for brown glass. If the glass is clear, it needs to go into a bin for clear glass. Until some time in the 1980s, some parts of the US actually did re-use glass bottles. (I'm not sure whether any were re-melted.)

Now, there are plenty of things where that doesn't matter. For example, several years back, I saw a TV news report where they followed recycled plastic beverage bottles from California to a landfill in India. Splitting those ones up into colors and materials would not have made one bit of difference.