
The Battle Against Recycling Contamination Is Everyone’s Battle - dragontamer
http://mediaroom.wm.com/the-battle-against-recycling-contamination-is-everyones-battle/
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dragontamer
There have been numerous discussions about trash, plastic, and other such
topics recently. Overall, US People have high numbers for recycling,
especially because single-stream sorters are now widespread.

However, recycling contamination rates have grown dramatically over the past
few decades.

> For example, when foods or liquids are placed in a recycling container they
> will ultimately saturate tons and tons of otherwise good paper and cardboard
> that they come into contact with. When paper and cardboard loses its
> quality, it also loses its ability to be recycled. It becomes trash.

The economics for recycling are pretty simple: it MAKES YOUR CITY MONEY when
you recycle. They sort the valuable stuff (ie: plastics and clean paper) from
the non-valuable stuff (ie: trash).

Now, some cities have compost bins for recycling (which effectively turns old
food into good soil. IE: Makes money). But not all cities have compost bins.
As such, you have to be careful and do research. That Pizza Box you're about
to put into the recycling bin? Some areas can recycle it into compost, while
others will just throw it into a landfill.

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It seems like Plastic Bags are getting less and less valuable. They can be
recycled, but they're so light that you don't really make money from them. And
there's a chance that they clog up conveyor belts. My local area still
recycles plastic bags, but NOT from the single-stream pickup. I have to now
drop off my plastic bags at the grocery store to recycle them.

