By JOHN ROGERS
Sustainability Committee Chair
According to the state’s RecycleSmartMA.org website, “The bottles and containers you recycle don’t need to be spotless, but they do need to be empty and free of liquid and most food residue. A quick wipe or rinse does the trick – no need to run the recyclables in the dishwasher or scrub them 100% clean…”
The goal, they say, is “to keep food and liquids from contaminating the paper and cardboard in the recycling system, avoid attracting unwanted pests, and keep recycling workers from having to sort through sticky, moldy recyclables!”
While a quick rinse does take water, they suggest you can clean your recycling with water leftover from washing dishes or use the recycling rinse water for watering your plants if you want to up your conservation game. But they also offer this assessment: “The amount of energy saved by recycling is far greater than the energy of washing the recyclables (even in hot water).”
For peanut butter jars, my dog and I have developed a good partnership: I scrape the jar with a spatula, she spends some quality time cleaning the parts of the jar her tongue can reach, and I let water soak in the jar to take care of a bit more. Everybody wins.
Note that lids can go back on the jar, tub, or bottle once it’s ready for the bin – even if they’re different materials (a metal lid on a glass jar, for example).
Content for the Sustainability Corner is provided periodically to the Transcript by members of the town’s Sustainability Committee.
