Massachusetts man goes to Burger King. Then he notices something strange in the restaurant: ‘Burger King lying to everyone’

Kyle (@mushroommankyle), who filmed a video inside a Burger King in Massachusetts, walked up to a two-slotted trash-and-recycling station, flipped the top open, and found both sides emptying into the same container.

As of this writing, his post has more than 6,000 views.

The story

“Yo, so I'm at Burger King, right? Look. Trash. Recycling,” he tells the camera, panning across the labeled slots. Then the flip lid comes up. “You open it up. It's one bin.”

Kyle doesn't specify which town's Burger King he's in, and the branded lids are the only labels on-screen. Whether the setup is store-level negligence, a franchise habit, or a fixture the corporate parent shipped out that way is left unaddressed. Restaurant Brands International, Burger King's parent, has publicly pledged to “recycle guest packaging in 100% of restaurants in Canada and the US by 2025.”

The peanut gallery

In the comment section, viewers said Kyle had a point.

“Yea that makes zero sense,” admitted one person.

“It's the same no matter where you go,” said another commenter. “I work in an elementary school and I saw the truck dump the recycling into the back and then back up and pick up the regular garbage and dump it into the same place in the back of the truck. There's no recycling anymore.”

@mushroommankyle @Burger King lying to everyone! #fyp #viral #burgerking #environmentallynotfriendly #corporatelies ♬ original sound – Noah

The law and the landfill

Massachusetts has run a waste-ban system since 1990, and the rules do reach a Burger King dining room. Under 310 CMR 19.017, MassDEP prohibits the disposal of a long list of recyclables—glass and metal containers, single-resin plastics #1 and #2, cardboard, paper—with penalties of up to $25,000 per violation per day for haulers and facilities that accept banned materials for landfill.

Statewide rules don't automatically produce a statewide bin. Recycle Smart MA, the MassDEP education program launched in 2018, says the state is trying to align its 351 cities and towns behind one message, though “it's ultimately the municipality's choice” how that message is delivered — enforcement, hauler contracts, and receptacle setups all sit with local officials.

Even a properly separated bin isn't a guarantee. The Mid-America Regional Council reports that “the average contamination rate among communities and businesses is currently about 25 percent,” and warns that food or liquid contamination can ruin an entire load and send it to disposal. Columbia University's State of the Planet notes that “while many Americans dutifully put items into their recycling bins, much of it does not actually end up being recycled.”

Buzz News reached out to Kyle via TikTok message and comment, and to Burger King and MassDEP via email.