How to Stop Contaminating Your Recycling Bin

Did you know that you need to clean out your jars before recycling them?  Many people do not consider the fact that they ruin the entire contents of your recycling bin if you do not remove food residue from containers before tossing them in.  This leads to the wasted recycling efforts of hundreds of bins.  As recycling center in Orlando, we educate our community on the proper way to recycle in their home or business.  One of these tips is to avoid contamination of their recycling bin.  These are a few steps to take to avoid contaminating your recycling.

Clean Your Jars and Containers

Before you throw any of your containers in the recycling bin, you need to empty them of their contents and thoroughly clean them.  Rinse them in the sink and make sure they are fully dry before you throw them in your bin.  If you skip this step, your jars and containers can actually release its contents all over the rest of your bin, and this can contaminate the whole bin.

Dispose of Greasy Spots

Some of the most popular containers that people recycle are pizza boxes.  These large cardboard boxes, however, are often stained with grease after the pizza is gone.  Because of this, these greasy spots need to be removed to prevent further contamination.  As a rule of thumb, you should separate the bottom of the pizza box from the top.  Recycle the top.  Throw away the bottom.

Avoid Recycling Plastic Bags

It may seem strange to keep plastic bags out of the recycling bin, but this is a good practice to start in your home.  When you recycle plastic bags, you risk the chance of contamination from anything that may have been inside.  Also, you should keep your plastic bags in a separate bin that makes it easy for reuse.  Once your container is full of plastic bags, you can recycle them at your local supermarket.

Keep Batteries Away

Batteries should not be recycled, nor should they be thrown in the garbage.  Batteries require special waste removal, so you will want to contact your local recycling center to hear about these.  When you do put batteries in the recycling bin, you risk contamination of the entire contents of the bin.

Throw Away Soft Paper Products

Many people may not know this, but soft paper products, like toilet paper and paper towels, need to be thrown in the garbage.  When you recycle these products, you contaminate the entire recycling bin.  These products are often used to wipe surfaces, which means that they then have the dirt, dust, debris, or allergens on them.  By putting these materials in the recycling bin, you risk exposing everything to these particles.

By taking these steps, you can avoid contaminating all the contents of your recycling bin with just one dirty jar.  These few simple steps can save you from wasting tons of plastic that will end up littering our planet.  If you are looking for more information about our recycling center in Orlando, contact us today.