Why do you have to rinse and clean containers before recycling them? Aren't there automated cleaning machines?

Most recycling companies require you to clean your containers. Its seems like people wouldn't do a good job at that and they'd have to do that anyway. Asked by Space_Cowboy 51 months ago Similar questions: rinse clean containers recycling automated cleaning machines Environment > Waste Management.

Similar questions: rinse clean containers recycling automated cleaning machines.

Health reasons mostly, depends on your area...and it depends on whether or not your city or town does its own recycling or ships the stuff out to another locality. When my city started a curbside recycling program twenty years ago, we had to rinse and clean the containers and peel off the labels. We could only recyle newspapers, and only certain types of platic.

No covers to the plastic or glass containers. The main reason was for health codes. Tin cans got picked up on one day the first week of the month.

Glass containers on the second week, plastic containers the third week, and newspapers on the fourth week. If there was a fifth week of trash pickups, there was no recycling pick up. The items were then stored in a warehouse until there was enough to ship to the recycling plant, half a state away.

If the containers hadn't been rinsed out, the food still stuck to the insides would rot, attracting flies and maggots, yellowjackets, and rats. City rats are HUGE, and carry lots and lots of diseases, not to mention the utter stench of rotting foods. If a home hadn't at least made the effort to rinse out the containers, the pickup crew would leave the bin there.

Nowadays, my city has it's own processing plant for recyclables. It takes all paper, including old mail and paperback books, all plastics except grocery bags, and it picks up everything you put out..no waiting for the "right" week for a particular type of recyclable. But we still have to make the token effort to rinse out the containers to keep the stench down in summer, and the rats away all the time.

I can speak only for NJ No they do not have cleaning machines How do I know this. I got a letter and so did every body in our county saying PLEASE wash out recycled cans and jars because they did not have washing machines and the dirty food contianes gum up the recycle machines and they have to stop and clean them which takes time and causes time lost in processing the cans and jars.

Ants! I asked the guy at the local recycling set up and he said it is to keep the ants down - both at home while it is sitting in the recycle bin - and to keep ants and rats and other crawly things off of their premises. I don't know if he was pulling my leg or not - but in an off-beat sort of way - it makes sense.

I certainly don't have ants around my cans anymore once I starting rinsing out soda cans and beer bottles. Those two items seemed to attract the ants the most. Sources: experience .

Here's a goofy thing... When the family all lived in CT, all of the towns gave out recycling tubs. We lived in E. Windsor and had to wash out each bottle and plastic jug...take the labels off the cans and wash them clean.

Our newspspers had to be in paper grocery sacks. My adult daughter lived in the next town, Enfield...they were told to put their newspapers in the bottom of the bin, recycle the glass, plastic jusg...and the cans WITH labels on...washed or not, it didn't matter. In another CT town, they had to sort their plastic by color and the triangular code on the bottom.

Now we're all in Florida and they don't recycle anything at the curb. They have the prisoners work at the dump, sorting cans, bottles, glass and paper. So we have to shred any paperwork with account numbers or anything else with important information on it in fear of identity theft.

Wouldn't you think that recycling would be done the same everywhere? That each state would have a main plant where all the collected items would be treated and recycled? It makes no sense to me.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.