Recycling has to be done (Image: Getty)
Rinsing your is more important than you think.
While plastic, metal, and glass is usually cleaned by recycling companies, not rinsing them beforehand can actually compromise the quality of the entire batch.
That’s because paper and cardboard can’t be washed, so if it gets contaminated by sauces or oils, it can seriously when the paper is mixed with water and ground to a pulp.
If the pulp mixture contains high levels of oils, it may repel the fibres and stop them from re-adhering to each other, meaning the final product could be full of holes, or weaker than it should be.
Waste Authority website said recycling “only works if it is done properly” and that sticky tape is another major culprit.
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When paper is recycled it’s mixed with water and ground to a pulp (Image: Getty)
The authority adds that if tape is not removed from cardboard or paper packaging, the new material will “inadvertently contain plastic material” which lowers its quality and the ability to sell it on, because it may not meet quality standards of paper mills.
One user shared: “As someone who used to work for a recycling company, clean containers can be recycled, ones still covered in food residue cannot.
“They end up in landfill as it would be too labour-intensive to wash them. Most council websites do detail that recycling should be clean anyway.”
County Council website backed up the information, saying residents should make sure bottles and other food and drinks packaging are completely empty and rinsed to “stop other recyclables from being contaminated”.
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Other common items to mistakenly appear in the recycling bin are tissue paper, nappies and single use coffee cups, which should all be added to the general waste.