I guessed you might have the same question. So, for both our sakes, I did a little research. Here’s what I found.
The information on this varies depending on who you ask.
According to Chris Goodwin, Communications Manager for a local recycling center in Minneapolis, recyclables will not be rejected if they’re dirty -- meaning, food residue left on recyclables does not affect whether the item can be recycled.
There’s also a chance that, though dirty recyclables can be cleaned, if it’s too dirty, the recycling center might just throw it out anyways because it’s more economical to do so. Hard-to-clean containers means a more expensive recycling process and more expensive end product. If it’s more expensive for the companies making products out of these recycled materials, they’ll just opt for the cheaper new materials instead.
From all the varied information, it is consistent that a little organic matter is okay, but don’t leave large chunks of food in your containers, particularly if they’ll get dried up and hard, making the container difficult to clean. Fill your container with warm soapy water and give it a shake -- this will be enough for most recyclables -- but wipe out the majority of sticky things like nut butter beforehand.
Plastic bags do need to be clean and dry in order to be recycled. Wet or dirty plastic bags can make a whole bale of plastic musty and non-recyclable.
Most cities don’t accept these at the curb so you need to take them to a grocery store that offers plastic bag recycling or get a membership to a local curbside service like Ridwell (for the greater Seattle area, but you might be able to find a local recycling start up for your city) or a shipping service like Terracycle which is available nationwide in both the US and Canada. Services like these not only take plastic bags, but also other hard-to-recycle items like batteries and textiles.
Paper products must be mostly clean in order to be recycled -- no cheese-covered pizza boxes, but a little oil stain is fine. The good news is you can still put soiled paper in the compost.
We absolutely should recycle as much material as we can, but as we’ve discussed before, recycling is fraught with issues and we should rely on recycling as the last step in our sustainability practices -- starting with Reduce, Refuse, and Reuse.
Glass jars are super useful and can be reused for a variety of purposes before recycling like food storage, jam making, chia seed pudding, glasses for your morning orange juice, a pen holder for your desk, potting plants, storing your homemade flaxseed hair gel (mentioned in our recent sustainable hair care post), and DIY candles -- these make great gifts! If you have enough glass jars already, give them away on your local Buy Nothing Facebook group.
What creative ways are you finding to reuse items before you recycle?
Your household, like many others, probably takes the time to separate out your bottles, cans and paper goods into the recycling box. But after you rush to get it to the curb on time, where does it actually go? Recycling brings to mind images of glass being smashed, melted and turned into new glass. Stock footage we’ve been exposed to since this infamous episode of Sesame Street first explained recycling to us as children. And while that does happen to some lucky bottles, would it shock you to know that only 7-10% of the items you throw in the recycling (especially plastics) actually end up there? “And the rest?” you ask. The landfill.
Are you the person that scrubs out the greasy film from the cream cheese container before throwing it in the recycling or the person who tosses it in with a scoop too small for a sandwich still left inside? Do you check your plastics for a recycling logo before tossing it in or do you assume all plastics are recyclable? It’s not uncommon for up to 25% percent of what goes into the recycling bin to be either contaminated or not recyclable in the first place. The cost of sorting out non-recyclables and cleaning contaminated items is simply too high, so, unfortunately, entire batches of recycling wind up heading to the landfill instead. If you’re a perfectionist when it comes to cleaning your recycling, keep up the good work!
Not anymore. After decades of purchasing a huge portion of the West’s plastic recyclables, China has put an end to being the country that cleans up our mess. And they’ve got some serious messes of their own to consider. China announced the National Sword policy, banning plastic waste from being imported, in July 2017, and the ban officially began January 1, 2018. This came following the release of a documentary called Plastic China, which shed some pretty uncomfortable light on the hazardous implications of the prevalent ‘unofficial’ recycling centers in China. Coincidence? Probably not. Now China is making moves to shut down informal recycling plants and build better, safer and more efficient recycling systems for their own growing waste problem. So, our recycling is back to being our own costly problem.
Yes and no. Recycling is a lot better for our conscience than it is for our planet or the economy. We recycle because we’re told to recycle. That it’s the right thing to do. But if it’s all a performance and those bottles don’t actually get melted down and turned into new bottles, then what’s the answer?
Should you take all the recyclables in your home and throw them in the trash can? Absolutely not! But should you make an effort to focus on ways to reduce, reuse and altogether refuse to use plastic? You bet! When the Planeteers would join their rings to summon Captain Planet, he would remind us all that “The power is yours!”. And while that may have ended up being a little more complicated than tossing a greasy pizza box in the recycling and calling yourself an environmentalist, the message remains the same. We each hold the power to make an environmental impact. And if not with our recyclables, then with our wallets and our voices, our votes, and our habits.
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