Recycling is great. But if you don’t follow the recycling rules of your local drop-off facility or recycling service, all your efforts could be for naught. There tend to be two significant rules that you need to follow when it comes to recycling. You have to separate your recyclables, and you have to clean the recyclables before dropping off.
Rules for Recycling
For recycling to work, we all have to follow the rules. Every recycling facility will have different capabilities and rules for how they want you to recycle. It’s essential to follow the rules for recycling, or your recycling will just get redirected to the landfill.
Separating Your Recycling
Some recycling facilities are called “single-stream-recycling,” which will allow you to pile all of your recyclable materials into one recycling bin and drop them off without separating. However, if your facility requires you to separate your recycling, dropping them off in one big bag means that it gets rerouted to the dump.
Recycling wrong can use up more resources and increase the carbon footprint. Recycling means you reuse materials instead of having to source for new materials. You are also minimizing the amount of waste that goes to landfills and causes pollution. When you recycle wrong, your trash transports to the recycling center and then transports again to the dump. That extra step will increase your carbon footprint, instead of minimizing it, which is the whole point of recycling.
Washing Your Recycling
Whether your recycling drop-off facility or recycling service is a single-stream-recycling or you need to separate, you will always need to wash your recyclables. Food, grease, and other dirt will contaminate the recycling. If you don’t clean your recyclables, all your efforts will end up in the trash. Take an extra few minutes to wash out bottles and cans. Make sure you don’t throw dirty, greasy pizza boxes into your paper recycling, contaminating the entire bunch.
Check out our recycling drop-off facility rules before you drop off.
