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Too Much Of Our Recycling Ends Up In the Trash

Tuesday, 15 September 2015 at 07:28

How much of your recycling actually ends up recycled? Maybe not as much as you'd hope.

Oxford County Public Works is asking residents to watch what they are tossing into their recycling bins. 

During a recent trip to the recycling processing facility Oxford uses in Brant County they were told about a huge number of recycled material that ends up getting tossed in the garbage. Director of Public Works for the County Robert Walton says the biggest problem is with plastic material not being rinsed out properly for things like peanut butter and other food containers that end up contaminated and you can no longer recycle them.  

"The biggest message we need to get out for people is to get the right things in the containers as far as recyclables and also to make sure that these things are clean because when you put dirty contaminated material in there it's garbage. Don't fool yourself that it is getting recycled because it is going to the dump. Clean out those peanut butter jars, rinse your containers so that it is clean and has the highest value for us in terms of recycling it." 

Walton says it can also be a health and safety issues for the workers at the plant trying to sort the material. 

"The yellow jackets and the wasps are around the facility because of the sugar that is in the dirty material. Think of the people that work there as well. Try to keep this stuff as clean as you can, rinse it out, it's not a lot of work at the household level and it makes a big difference at the recycling facility."

If you're unsure about what can and what cannot be recycled, you can always do a little digging on the Wasteline App.

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