How to Rinse Out Recyclables Without Wasting Excess Water
We advised you to rinse the recyclable materials. “What about wasted water?” you asked . So we asked some scholars. Short answer: a quick rinse is usually worth it. The long answer is pretty interesting too!
How much to rinse
All recyclables are washed in the center. According to Jason Hale, vice president of public affairs for the nonprofit recycling partnership, the flush is primarily designed to keep the system free from parasites. So you only need to rinse them out enough so that they don’t become a magnet for rats and ants. Remember that the recyclable materials will be in the trash can, then in the truck, and then in the heap at the recycling plant. (If they will also sit in an open container in your home, you can also rinse them out enough to reduce odor.)
If your local recycling system collects paper and containers in the same container, flushing also makes that paper recyclable. Pasta sauce oozing from a can onto a newspaper could make that newspaper unrecyclable, says Todd Lawrence , executive director of the nonprofit Urban Green Lab. pollution “.
“I have had locals proudly told me that they put recyclables through the dishwasher,” says Hale. According to him, this is not necessary. He recommends simply the “ fastest rinse” or, if you are in an area where water is scarce, simply shake and wipe. (The energy used for the paper towel is less than the energy used for the container.)
It also means you don’t need to rinse out an already clean container and use soap. Martin Vogt, president of the EFS-Plastics recycling plant, recommends rinsing out recyclables with dirty dishes after you empty a sink full of dishes.
Of course, some containers have more stuck food. That’s okay, says Sam Silver , Training and Operations Coordinator at Sims Municipal Recycling. If peanut butter is still stuck to the bottom of the glass jar, which is usually, I don’t recommend wasting water worrying about it.
If you really want to optimize, separate the lids and containers when they are two different materials. “Whenever possible, you should always separate the types of materials,” says Silver. “So the plastic lids can remain on the plastic packaging, but not the metal lids on the glass jars.”
Impact on the environment
Recycling containers saves a lot of energy: Recycling an aluminum can saves 95% of the energy used to make a new one. But how much of this energy is wasted in rinsing? Hardly.
“Since I’m both an environmental scientist and a lazy person, I’ve done math on this before,” says Jason Goodman , assistant professor of physics and environmental sciences at Wheaton College, Massachusetts. “I have found that recycling saves much more energy than the cost of washing containers.”
You can see Goodman’s math and sources in this table . He used EPA estimates for energy savings and suggested that rinsing would require a full container of hot water. Even with this generous rating, rinsing only uses 2-8% of the energy saved through reuse.
Goodman’s test ignores several factors, such as local water supply and the benefits of reducing landfill area. “But if you are most concerned about fossil fuels and climate change, then this is an open and closed case,” he says. Most of this energy comes from heating the water, so use cold water .
“The best way to reduce the environmental impact of single-use plastic is to get rid of it entirely,” says Greer Ryan , a renewable energy and research specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. But recycling plastic also protects it from entering waterways, she says. “It’s an important way to protect wildlife and the environment.”
So don’t give recyclables a bubble bath, but don’t worry that you will negate all your good work if you rinse with a reasonable amount of water. You make the world a little less dirty.