Many Canadians are recycling wrong, and it’s costing us millions

 

Canadians are throwing too much garbage into their blue bins, sometimes out of laziness or ignorance, but sometimes with the best of intentions. And it’s costing recycling programs millions of dollars a year.

Even a few spoonfuls of peanut butter left in a jar can contaminate a tonne of paper and make it unmarketable — destined for the dump. Same for that glob of yogurt left in the bottom of the container.

Contamination has recently become a much bigger issue because China, the world’s biggest importer of recyclable material, started banning imports of paper with more than 0.5 per cent contamination — a standard that North American cities are struggling to meet.

Read Many Canadians are recycling wrong, and it’s costing us millions by Emily Chung at CBC News.