Question by Emma: What happens to something you recycle that didn’t get rinsed out properly?
Do they just throw it away with regular trash? Or recycle it anyway? Because wouldn’t all recycling go through a cleaning process anyway?
Best answer:
Answer by Stgh V
Hmm, well where I live, the recycling people don’t even look at it, just throw it into the truck.
I’d say it wouldn’t matter, they’d all get cleaned eventually, but rinsing it just helps to make it not stink, and to prevent mold (if you keep it laying around too long)
Give your answer to this question below!
all plastics that are recycled, are chipped up and washed, any dirt or food residue is washed away before the plastics are melted down and reused.
Metal is melted down and all dirt and food residue is either burned away or is scraped off as slag in the process.
paper is pulped up and washed, fresh wood fibre from trees is added to the paper pulp to allow it to bond together properly.
so therefore it is for our own convenience that we wash things out as the recycling bins/bags would stink waiting for the collections
Unrinsed items will generally be recycled anyway. However, rinsing first helps cut down on flies, ants and other pests that would be drawn to the bottles & cans. Common courtesy and respect for the people who must work with those items requires rinsing the items. And that doesn’t take long.
Bottles and jars with lids on are usually discarded rather than recycled, because the lids are usually not recycleable. They won’t waste the time required to remove possibly thousands of caps & lids a day, so those items are thrown away. Remember to toss the lids and recycle the containers!
Rinsing is a short term solution, almost everything will be subjected to intense heat during re manufacture, steel corn cans ,aluminum beer cans plastic bottles, old cars, tires,lead-acid batteries et al.
Well, plastic bottles are crushed, shipped, shredded and then washed. So, clean or dirty, it still gets recycled.
Rinsing it out may make collection less messy; emptying it would at least cut down on shipping unnecessary weight.
I always rinse things out, especially glass bottles because I have gotten things like bees or other garbage in bottles before and I am sure these were not rinsed out good enough prior to reusing.
Not only will they refuse to recycle it, but the recycling companies will perform fingerprinting tests on the property. It will be traced back to you, whereupon you will be ordered to pay a $2000 fine by the state, perform mandatory community service at least twice a week for six weeks, and possibly receive anywhere from ten to twenty lashings on the buttocks.
they most likely will recycle it, and yes all products usually go under a cleaning process. they clean out all the germs,dirt, and so on.
I don’t think they really care if what you recycle is clean or not. Everyone needs to be concerned with what drains from your trash cans/bins if you haven’t cleaned/rinsed cans and bottles that you are recycle in your area.
Obviously they don’t just depend on you to clean your stuff thoroughly, do you scrub down your cola can when you’re done with it? NO! They clean it, it’s just courtesy to clean it, which everyone should do.