Question: Do plastic items need to be washed out to be recycled?

 

This question comes to us from Amanda Campbell.  (Thanks, Amanda!)

 

Answer:  Plastics are actually the one recyclable material that really does need to be cleaned out.  Paper and glass materials will get washed in the recycling process, and metal will be melted before it is reused.  The plastic recycling process can be contaminated, however, if plastics are not cleaned.

 

This doesn't mean you need to use bleach or get out every spot.  Just make sure it's mostly clean.  One of our employees here at the City runs her plastic bottles and jars through the dishwasher, which might be an easy way to get them clean.

 

Plastic Bags:  Speaking of plastic, we'd like to remind everyone not to place plastic grocery / retail bags in your recycling bins. Why?  Yes, it is a recyclable material.  However, because these bags are so thin, they tend to gum up the recycling / sorting machines at the Materials Recovery Facility.  (We apologize if we've mentioned this before, but we keep getting the question.)  Thank you!

Sanitation Tip of the Month

Calling and Leaving Messages:  We love it when you call -- and leave us a voice message if we can't get to the phone right at that moment.  We REALLY love it when you leave your address, phone number, and name.  But here's the thing:  Please also tell us what the issue is when you call.

Here's Why:  If you don't tell us why you called, we will always try to reach you, but if you are a busy person and we can't reach you right away, valuable time may be lost playing phone tag.   When you call our Sanitation office, you will reach Jennie Faenger's office.  Her message will prompt you to leave a "brief message" as well as your contact information - and most importantly, of course, your street address.

If it's just a missed trash pick-up, and you tell us that, we can just send somebody out to pick it up without ever bothering you with an additional phone call.   If it's a special pick-up and you tell us what it is you need picked up (couch, stove, etc.), Jennie will get it all set up for you and THEN call you with a confirmation (and if you're not there, she can leave you a VM).  Same thing for when you just have a question.  Leave the question in your voice message, and Jennie will call you back with an answer (and leave it in a VM if you can't answer the phone).

You can always email Jennie as well:  faengeJL@kirkwoodmo.org.

Thanks for your help with this, and thanks for "talkin' trash" with us this month.  See you in June!!