My recycling routine at home was actually making things worse

I spent 8 months tossing my plastic containers into the bin without rinsing them first. Last Tuesday at the Portland transfer station, a worker pulled me aside and showed me a whole load of greasy yogurt cups clogging up their sorting machine. He told me single items with leftover food can contaminate entire bales of recyclables. That moment made me realize my lazy shortcut was doing more harm than good. Has anyone else had a wake up call about their recycling habits?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_anthony1mo ago

Never thought about it like that. @david_jones38 your buddy's story seals it for me.

wood.faith1mo ago

So the whole load got tossed just for one greasy box?

david_jones381mo ago

My buddy Tom from the depot found out the hard way last spring. He threw a pizza box with grease stains in the recycling and the whole truckload got rejected at the plant, costing the company a couple hundred bucks. Made him start rinsing everything and checking labels just like that worker showed you.