Recycling companies demands

wiredup

My local waste company collects my normal waste as well as stuff to be recycled.

But they are quite fussy about what they take. No glass bottles, no wet paper and so on.

However, they insist that tin cans, plastic bottles and such are cleaned before placing them into the bin.

Why is this?
Are they not making money from recycling?
When the items are melted down, impurities are removed in the process anyway right?

I don't really mind but I don't see why if they are making money out of it you should have to help them by cleaning the items before they take it.

Shouldn't we be encouraging recycling? Making it as easy as possible for people to change their ways.

I accept it's not really that much of a hassle but I find, for example, if I reach then end of milk bottle, I tend to place it to the side rather than cleaning it straight away. You know what it's like. You might have opened up a can of tomatoes and be in the middle of cooking. You can't always clean the item straight away. Before you know it your worktop is full of items making the place a mess. I dread the summer what with the flies and such.

Much better if you can just throw the item in the recycling bin once you have finished with it. How many of us just throw a recyclable item in the normal bin because we are feeling a little lazy at that moment?

I dunno, I accept we all have to do our bit but my point is if these companies make money out of it they should not demand we clean it for them. :rolleyes:

Capt'n Midnight

would it be green to put them in the dishwasher to clean them (after removing labels)

2 stroke

do you want the recycling center closed down because of fly and rodent infestation. also your food remnants would contaminate items that dont need melting.

wiredup

2 stroke wrote:

do you want the recycling center closed down because of fly and rodent infestation. also your food remnants would contaminate items that dont need melting.

But most people just rinse an item, not clean to a sterilised condition so it still must be dirty.

prospect

I just rinse them.

In the case of a half can of tomotoes, I'd either put the other half in the fridge for future use, orput them in the compost and ther rinse out the tin.

I kind of agree with your point, but I do think it ie best if each invidiual rinses out the bottles, cans etc.
Can you imagine the smell on collection day in the summer if all the bins have various waste food and dairy products in them...

Triangle

Also, Can you imagine how difficult it would be to recycle if all the companies didn't make a profit on it?
I can't imagine it would have moved past the idea stage if it wouldn't be profitable.

Also, it's just a matter of routine to rinse out the items. It's not that big a deal in the end.

still

Hi Wiredup

Recycling is not as easy as throwing stuff out alright, but as you can see and will no doubt hear in todays news and over the weekend after the Paris meeting that its all our fault (humans).

Putting in a bit of effort is good for you, if it does nothing else it gives you a bit of exercise. Walking instead of driving and all that.

Rinsing out a few cans and bottles surely cannot be that much of a chore. Maybe you could assign it to one of your children (if you have any :-) ) and then they can learn all about recycling and they will grow up taking it as the norm rather than the unsustainable norm that we grew up with and are finding difficult to adjust from.

Please continue to recycle as much as you can in the best possible manner, it will help us all.

I do remember hearing that dishwashers were more economical than hand washing, this probably takes into account heating water for the hand washing and a few other things but could very well be true. Think about how you heat the water and if you do so anyway and the hot water only goes to waste

(sorry for the waffle, its friday)