Stop rinsing your recyclables before tossing them in the bin

I used to spend 5 minutes scrubbing every yogurt container and peanut butter jar before recycling. Found out from a waste plant worker in Denver that they actually just burn off any leftover residue during processing. Wasting water and soap actually hurts the environment more than a little food stuck to the plastic. Has anyone else been doing this wrong or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

graytorres8d ago

Bacteria from dirty containers can still contaminate entire batches of recycling, making them unrecyclable.

jake_kelly248d ago

Jake here - guilty of scrubbing peanut butter jars like I'm prepping for surgery.