אם היינו ממחזרים יותר נייר ופלסטיק, היינו זורקים פחות זבל.

אם means if. It introduces the condition: If we recycled more paper and plastic...

In this sentence, היינו helps build a hypothetical / unreal idea, similar to English would.

• היינו ממחזרים = we would recycle
• היינו זורקים = we would throw away

So Hebrew is not literally saying we were recycling and we were throwing away here. In this kind of sentence, it means would.

היינו is the 1st person plural past form of להיות (to be), meaning we were.

But in sentences like this, Hebrew often uses:

• היינו + present participle

to express a hypothetical meaning:

• היינו ממחזרים = we would recycle
• היינו זורקים = we would throw away

So its basic form is past, but the whole structure has a conditional meaning.

Because they are present-participle forms, and Hebrew uses them after היינו in this pattern.

On their own:

• ממחזרים = recycle / are recycling
• זורקים = throw / are throwing

But after היינו, they become part of a hypothetical construction:

• היינו ממחזרים = we would recycle
• היינו זורקים = we would throw away

This is a very common Hebrew way to express unreal or contrary-to-fact situations.

It is a hypothetical / contrary-to-fact condition.

The idea is not just if we recycle more, we throw away less as a general truth. It means something more like:

• If we were recycling more paper and plastic, we would be throwing away less trash
• or more naturally:
• If we recycled more paper and plastic, we would throw away less trash

So the sentence is about an unreal or imagined situation.

Because the subject is we, and in Hebrew, plural verb/adjective-like forms usually appear in the masculine plural when:

• the group is all male, or
• the group is mixed, or
• the gender is unspecified

So:

• היינו ממחזרים
• היינו זורקים

are the normal default forms.

If the speakers were an all-female group, you would usually say:

• אם היינו ממחזרות יותר נייר ופלסטיק, היינו זורקות פחות זבל.

Because את is used before a definite direct object, usually one marked by ה־ or otherwise definite.

Here, the nouns are indefinite or general:

• יותר נייר ופלסטיק = more paper and plastic
• פחות זבל = less trash

So no את is needed.

Compare:

• ממחזרים נייר = recycling paper
• ממחזרים את הנייר = recycling the paper

יותר means more, and here it modifies the amount of paper and plastic being recycled.

So:

• ממחזרים יותר נייר ופלסטיק = recycle more paper and plastic

It does not need to change form for gender or number. יותר always stays יותר.

פחות means less / fewer, and זבל means trash / garbage.

Since זבל is treated like a mass noun here, פחות זבל means:

• less trash
• less garbage

Like יותר, פחות does not change form for gender or number.

Yes, זורקים comes from לזרוק, which basically means to throw. But in many contexts, especially with trash, it naturally means to throw away or to discard.

So:

• היינו זורקים פחות זבל = we would throw away less trash

That is the most natural English meaning here.

Not very naturally.

A very literal breakdown would look something like:

• If we were recycling more paper and plastic, we were throwing less trash

But that is not good natural English for this meaning.

The natural translation is:

• If we recycled more paper and plastic, we would throw away less trash.

So when reading Hebrew, it is important not to translate each word mechanically. The whole pattern matters.

The given word order is natural and standard:

• אם היינו ממחזרים יותר נייר ופלסטיק, היינו זורקים פחות זבל.

You can sometimes rearrange parts for emphasis, but this version is the clearest neutral order:

1. if-clause
2. main result clause

The comma is also normal in writing, separating the condition from the result.

The dictionary form is למחזר, meaning to recycle.

From that verb:

• ממחזר = recycling / recycles (masculine singular)
• ממחזרים = recycling / recycle (masculine plural)

So in this sentence, ממחזרים agrees with the subject we.

Yes, but this sentence uses a very common and natural structure for hypothetical situations:

• אם היינו + participle ..., היינו + participle ...

That is a standard way to say if we did X, we would do Y.

So even if other formulations exist, this is a very useful pattern to learn.