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

It depends on the recycling center, and what you tossed in. They generally always have to do manual sorting, as we’re terrible about knowing what to recycle, and what not to recycle. Depending on what you add, it may be sent to the landfill itself, contaminate the load and send a bunch of stuff off to the landfill, or potentially even cause problems in the machinery.

A common example are plastic bags, like those you get from the grocery store. These can be recycled in certain circumstances (usually you can drop them off at the store they came from), but often not process where your curbside recycling is picked up. If you throw your recyclables away in such a bag, it could result in the entire load being pitched to the landfill (with the added un-green result of an additional trip for a heavy smog producing vehicle).