Common Sources of Contamination
- Plastic bags in recycling. Plastic bags are recyclable, but not in the curbside container. If put in the curbside container, they tangle around equipment at the recycling center, resulting in costly delays. Plastic bags may be brought to stores that have plastic bag recycling, such as Lowes, Weis, etc.
- Leaving caps on plastic bottles. All caps to all containers should be removed and disposed of in the trash.
- Wet cardboard/greasy pizza boxes. Once wet, cardboard cannot be recycled. It must be disposed of in the trash. Try to protect cardboard as much as possible if you are leaving it is raining on a collection day, or hold it for the next dry collection day.
- Broken glass. Broken glass is very difficult to remove, and is a major contaminator of paper/cardboard.
- Putting “tanglers” in curbside recycling. Items that are long and/or thin easily get tangled around equipment at the recycling center, causing costly shutdowns to remove. They should be disposed of in the trash, even if they are made of plastic.