Your Recycle Bin is Easily Contaminated

Recycling... we all try so hard, but it is a huge challenge. I sometimes tell guests that they need a PhD in recycling to figure out our system. Some things can be placed in the blue bin, but some have to go to the depot. All cans and plastic tubs need to be washed to avoid food contaminating the paper in the bin. Pizza boxes... which look like they could go in the blue bin, really need to go in the green bin because of all the green stains on the cardboard. And on it goes.

We have a large basket in the cupboard under the sink that collects all of our recyclables. Once a week, I take it out to the blue bin and do a final once-over. There is always something that has snuck into the recyclables that doesn't belong there... a glass bottle, a pill bubble pack (mix of foil and plastic - not recylable) or a kleenex box with the plastic bit.

Our city is cracking down on blue bin contamination. They are sending scouts out ahead of the trucks now and checking blue bins. And woe to the household that has banned items in their blue bin. They might get a warning... and then after a few of those... something more serious might happen. Not sure what that is yet... but I'm sure we'll hear about it. Friends of ours have had two warnings already. Now... they recently moved into a house from an apartment so they are new to the whole blue bin thing. But they are getting a crash course!

Anyhow... I thought I would go over some of the obvious things that contaminate our paper recylables... A really good rule of thumb is this... if it's made of two different components (paper and plastic) it is NOT recyclable.

Tissue Boxes

This is an easy one. See that plastic window... it's gotta come out. And it doesn't take much to just reach into the box and tease the plastic away from the box. Depending on your jurisdiction, that plastic might even by recyclable... but with the filmy plastic stuff... not as part of the paper stuff.

I always flatten out the kleenex boxes as well, otherwise our basket under the kitchen sink gets full super fast.

It just takes a moment or two to tear out the plastic window and then flatten the box.

Pasta Boxes

And then we have pasta boxes... the ones with the little plastic windows so that you can see what type of pasta is in the box.

Not sure why we need that little plastic window... a picture of the pasta would be perfectly fine too! In fact... in the UK... in 2020... Barilla got rid of the little plastic window! They realized they didn't need it...

That was 3 years ago... not sure why that little innovation hasn't trickled across the Atlantic but... our pasta boxes still have plastic windows.

And guesss what... yep, you need to take the little plastic window out when you toss the box into the blue bin. And these ones are much harder to get out than the kleenex box. I often have to rip out the entire cardboard bit that the window is stuck to. So annoying. Time to ban those little plastic windows!

Christmas Cards

But they're paper, right? They should be easily recyclable? Well... it depends on what they are made of. Remember... things made of two different materials... especially plastic-y things... generally not recyclable. 

I hate to tell you this but there is no paper in the world that looks like shine-y gold or silver. All of that stuff is some sort of foil... probably nylon foil. And glitter/sparkles are definitely not paper.

Sooo if your Christmas card is pure, boring paper with no glitz or glam... it's probably recyclable. But if it's got sparkles or shiny bits... nope. I tend to rip the front off of these cards and toss that bit while recycling the back bit.

Store Receipts

Back in the day... we used to get short little paper receipts from stores, like tiny ones. One of the thrift stores in town still has a receipt like that. And it's actually "paper".

But most stores use thermo-paper and those receipts are super long with all sorts of information on them. But here's the thing... they are all coated (mostly) with BPA (Bisphenol A), a nasty industrial chemical that is super bad for human health. If you did put your receipts into the blue bin... the BPA would contaminate the rest of the paper... and might end up in tissues. We don't want that. Soooo... store receipts are NOT recyclable.

But what do you do with them? Throw them in the trash. If you're concerned about info on the receipts... then shred them and toss them.

Envelope Windows

I remember reading once that you could leave those little plastic address windows on envelopes when you recycle them. That still seems to be the case, probably because those little windows aren't super attached to the paper. It is relatively easy to heat the paper and have the adhesive dissolve. But if you want to go for it... tear out those plastic windows!

See... the rule of thumb about not recycling two different materials doesn't apply everywhere! Sigh.

Padded Envelopes

Some padded envelopes are obvious... they are plastic on the outside and have plastic padding (bubble wrap). Other padded envelopes are less obvious. They look like paper on the outside and inside... but have a layer of plastic bubble wrap hidden from view. You'll know they have plastic guts though because they are light... and make a plastic sound when you squish them and bend them. The other option is a padded envelope that is stuffed with paper products. They are usually a bit heavier and... for lack of a better word... feel lumpy. There are also some new ones that have a layer of honey-comb cardboard or corrugated cardboard as padding. Those are obviously great!

For recycling... pure plastic padded envelopes... can be recycled in our jurisdiction if they go into the flexible plastic stream and get dropped off a the depot. Pure paper padded envelopes can go into the blue bin. The mixed material envelope... with paper and bubble wrap... not recyclable. Goes in the garbage.

So annoying... Not sure why we need padded envelopes that can't be recycled... Do they "look" nicer than one-material envelopes?

Take-out Cups

These are a bane on the landscape. Timmies coffee cups. McDonald's drink cups. Starbucks latte cups. 7-11 slurpie cups. So many convenience cups. All of them lined with a thin film of plastic. What to do with them? Blue bin? Green bin?

They actually go into the blue bin, at least in our jurisdiction. As long as they are rinsed so they don't contaminate everything else in the blue bin.

Now that is all "in theory". I found this link which laid it all out quite nicely. The coffee cups are sorted out and then baled up and sent to a paper mill. There, they are shredded and then sent into a "hydropulper" which separates the different layers. Great! In theory...

The Cost of Contaminated Recycling

There was a recent news article on CBC which uncovered huge problems with our recycling system. You see... India receives tonnes of paper recyclables from Canada, which is not ideal to start with (huge carbon footprint shipping all that stuff overseas). But on top of that... the "pure paper" bales are contaminated with all sorts of things - like coffee cups and milk cartons and other plastics. 

And that's not the only time this has happened... Malaysia... the Philippines... All of them are miffed at Canada for sending contaminated containers containing "recyclables" which end up containing basically... garbage. Things like soiled adult diapers. That's just wrong.

Now, we aren't responsible for what gets baled and sent to India. Are we? Well, we aren't making up the bales but... what we put in our blue bin is the starting point. It all starts with us. Small steps... remember.