Nearly all containers (glass or plastic) need to have their label removed to recycle properly. And you must rinse them out, too.
Some can be recycled with the label on, but only if the plastic used is the type that can be recycled. Confusing and frustrating, yes.
The crappy thing is that some labels really don’t come off easily because they’ve been glued in place… those are awful to recycle because it requires quite a bit of extra effort, soaking, adhesive remover, etc… 😂
This step right here has to end. Recycling facilities should have cycling filtered graywater loops to do the rinsing. Using clean drinking water to rinse out containers is an absolute waste.
Man, I was looking into Germany’s waste infrastructure in general, and damn, I’m jealous, lol. I couldn’t find any concrete answers to the degree on which you should rinse plastic, though. That said, I imagine it’s probably in your best interest to at least give a quick rinse to avoid your own bin getting nasty, even if not required.
What I found is the term löffelrein, a wonderful German word meaning something like “as clean as possible when using a spoon” for joghurt for example.
I usually bring my trash down before it get’s nasty. Our “bio trash” is more of a problem, as anything biodegradable gets into it which attracts fruit flys. Rinsing plastics is still just a waste of water (and time).
Nearly all containers (glass or plastic) need to have their label removed to recycle properly. And you must rinse them out, too.
Some can be recycled with the label on, but only if the plastic used is the type that can be recycled. Confusing and frustrating, yes.
The crappy thing is that some labels really don’t come off easily because they’ve been glued in place… those are awful to recycle because it requires quite a bit of extra effort, soaking, adhesive remover, etc… 😂
This step right here has to end. Recycling facilities should have cycling filtered graywater loops to do the rinsing. Using clean drinking water to rinse out containers is an absolute waste.
At least in Germany that step is not necessary as far as I know.
It…it probably is.
Not really. We do have to make sure to empty the container as good as possible though.
Man, I was looking into Germany’s waste infrastructure in general, and damn, I’m jealous, lol. I couldn’t find any concrete answers to the degree on which you should rinse plastic, though. That said, I imagine it’s probably in your best interest to at least give a quick rinse to avoid your own bin getting nasty, even if not required.
What I found is the term löffelrein, a wonderful German word meaning something like “as clean as possible when using a spoon” for joghurt for example.
I usually bring my trash down before it get’s nasty. Our “bio trash” is more of a problem, as anything biodegradable gets into it which attracts fruit flys. Rinsing plastics is still just a waste of water (and time).