Shoutout to the dude at the recycling center who called me out for dirty jars

So I've been recycling for like 10 years, thought I was doing great. Every week I'd toss my pasta sauce jars and peanut butter containers in the bin without rinsing them out. Then last month this guy working the sorting line at the city drop-off in Portland waved me over. He pulled out one of my jars that still had a glob of old salsa in it and was like 'bro this whole batch is gonna get trashed now.' I felt like such a fool. Turns out one dirty container can ruin an entire load and it all goes to the landfill anyway. I had no clue my laziness was canceling out all that effort. Now I spend 30 seconds rinsing each jar with hot water before tossing it. Anybody else find out they've been doing a basic climate action step totally wrong this whole time?

3 comments

3 Comments

david_jones381mo ago

Actually hot water can waste a lot of energy, cold works just fine.

cole_baker1mo ago

My buddy Mike tried washing his greasy pans with cold water once, and @david_jones38 he spent the next hour scrubbing off stuck-on grease.

nancyn691mo ago

My buddy in Eugene swears he's never rinsed a jar and claims his whole route still gets recycled. He says the facility he uses has some high-heat washer that burns off residue anyway. Is there really a one-size-fits-all rule for this?