What happens when you accidentally put something in the recycling that isn’t meant to be recycled? Does it contaminate the entire batch? (side note: same question for Composting)

Question

I know that composting and recycling are fundamentally and scientifically different but my curiosity is the same.

In: Other

Answer 1

Depends on where you live. In my area, dozens are paid to sift through the piles because of slobs. In the best case, their bin is skipped and tagged at pickup, and the slobs learn to be more careful next week. In the worst case, batches of recyclables are diverted to regular trash because of contamination (oily paper, messy food containers). Ultimately, the actual recycling centers further down the line will get cleaner material.

Compost is somewhat easier because you can magnetize for ferrous metals, and other non-organics are easy to spot. Some companies may even have fancy optical sorters that can scan shredded material for rejects, and airblow them to a separate pile.