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When in doubt, leave it out

Garbage and recycling  ›  Recycle at home  ›  Guide to recycling at home  ›  When in doubt, leave it out

When items are recycled improperly, they make a lot of good recyclable materials go bad.

When glass isn't put in a container separate from other recyclables, it often breaks and gets mixed in with paper, plastic and metal, making them unrecyclable. Plastic bags mixed in with other recyclable materials jam sorting equipment at recycling facilities and are difficult to separate from everything else.

Recycling contamination

Contamination costs recycling businesses a lot of money. What is collected from homes and businesses has to be sorted before it is recycled. Recycling facilities have to spend additional money on labor to sort what can be recycled from what cannot. One local recycling business reports that 25 to 30 percent of the company's labor costs are from sorting out various contaminants that should not have been put into recycling containers, primarily plastic bags. Those contaminants typically must be disposed, which costs more money.

Not all contaminants get sorted out at the recycling facility; some of them end up being sent out with materials sold to market. These end-market recyclers have to pay to sort and landfill unwanted materials. For example, it is estimated that 10 percent of paper purchased by paper mills is garbage.

A truckload tells a quarter of the story

In July 2006, a truckload of contaminated recycling toured the region before heading to the landfill. Those who viewed it saw what happens to materials that are improperly placed in recycling containers after they are collected and brought to a recycling plant.

The materials on the truck included garden hoses, carpet, window blinds, waxed cardboard, plastic bags, packaging foam, and an odd assortment of other items that can't be recycled at the curb. The bales on the truck weighed about 12,000 pounds, a little over one-fourth of what goes to the landfill daily from Portland area recycling facilities and paper mills.

Related Documents

• Glass on the side 6.1M QuickTime MOV | Published October 2, 2007
• Plastic bags 5.8M QuickTime MOV | Published October 2, 2007