What happens to mixed materials in recycling?

I've been wondering about this too. Probably a majority of things I put in my 'recycling' bin are probably 'mixed' in some way. In an ideal world, should I be cutting the plastic spouts out of juice cartons before I put them in the recycling?

Live at Three wrote: »

I do separate things, I actually take the time to cut out the plastic window from envelopes. Can't help feeling like a crazy person when I'm doing it though.

Are the plastic 2 litre milk cartons tetra park?. I doubt if people go to the trouble of scraping off or scrubbing off the glued on sticker.

Likewise with washing oil out of bottle, too much effort for most. Also this would consume extra heat energy (fossil fuel), drinking water, and wash up liquid (more packaging).

Metal ring around neck of oil bottle is almost impossible to remove. What happens this?

Removing widget from Guinness can would require cutting the can open. Too dangerous and time consuming for most people.

I have a feeling that lots of people are thinking they're doing good but actually not aware of what actually happens the stuff. Problem lies in the packaging itself, a lot of it seems to be difficult to recycle properly. Bang on the money there, some is necessary to prolong freshness though so it's an awkward one but ultimately responsibility falls back on the supermarkets and manufacturers

Re: plastic wrapping, it appears now that any soft plastic is not recycled anymore, it's just rigid stuff.

I have gone through the crazy feeling, or more like wondering if my housemates thought I was ott sorting out the rubbish in the bins :P

The plastic milk bottle is not tetra pak. If you look at the bottom of it HDPE should be there, so can be recycled. Only the cardboard milk cartons are tetra pak.

Re the metal ring on bottles - I'd say leave it if you can't remove it, it wouldn't be a major issue and not lose sleep over. As for washing it, it doesn't involve much and the arguments against it hold no weight - you don't need much water, and you can use grey water after washing the dishes instead of using more water and washing liquid.

It's not time consuming to take a second to use a scissors to cut the can in half and pop the widget out, simples. Would make an exception for those with a physical impairment.

Yep, soft plastics (crisp bags, chocolate wrappers, cling film etc.) aren't recycled, only hard plastics as you said.

Worth a browse through: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/specialreports/special-report-failure-of-irish-households-to-recycle-properly-is-a-massive-waste-of-time-829833.html
“I have a favourite saying. If you’re happy enough to empty your recycle bin on the kitchen floor, we’re happy enough to take it, but I don’t think there’s many people would do that,” says Des. People are recycling more, so they have got their heads around the concept of it. They just have to learn to do it better.”

Also there's a Waste Reduction Bill (although Minister Denis Naughten is trying to stop it) which would address the excessive single-use plastics issue in supermarkets if passed later this year, more here: https://www.foe.ie/takeaction/break-free-from-plastic/

Foweva Awone wrote: »

Been wondering this too. I don't break these things apart and amn't going to start. So (assuming they are clean and recyclable) should I just be putting e.g. envelopes with a window into the black bin? I don't pay for my bins so it doesn't matter to me from a cost perspective whether I put stuff in the black or the green bin.

It takes a second though to just peel off the window from the envelope, or many other mixed composite packaging for that matter. Sorry I realise I come across as being judgemental, just interested in why people would know this and still chuck it into landfill

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Us nonexperts wouldn't know what is or isn't a major issue though. Like I said, if you get down to the level of staples in magazines, most 'recyclables' are probably 'contaminated' in some way.

Only a very small fraction of what is in the recycling bin actually gets recycled. Essentially, we are all pretty much just pretending to recycle.

Live at Three wrote: »

Just to be clear, I'm not asking how to cut the ring off a bottle or the widget from a can, or the staples out of a magazine, or what I should worry about or not lose sleep over, I'm just asking what happens when they go to recycling.

It it all just dumped into landfill?

See post #4 on this thread

Also check out https://recyclinglistireland.ie/ if you haven't done so already

As I've said before, recycling is a shambles and there's so much misinformation out there that I despair sometimes. I'm responsible for my own recycling and a nearby institute and to see what goes in the recycling bin is mind-blowing. Even if it was done properly it's all horsed into a big bin truck and mashed in with tons of possibly contaminated material. It doesn't matter how much effort the individual makes as it only takes a small of contaminated recycling to wreck the whole thing. My local waste company - Bord na Mona operated - told me that all their contaminated waste goes to landfill.

It would be good to know what exactly is considered to be contaminated load.

Del.Monte wrote:

Repak Chief Executive (!) on Pat Kenny show today talking out of his arse about recycling - there's a surprise!

What was he talking about? I ll listen back myself later

Del.Monte wrote: »

Repak Chief Executive (!) on Pat Kenny show today talking out of his arse about recycling - there's a surprise! :rolleyes:

is this available on the internets, i cant seem to find it on the newstalk site?