How To Recycle Peanut Butter Jars

Dear Sarah,

When recycling a peanut butter jar, is information technology necessarily to totally make clean it out then that there is not a trace of peanut butter in information technology? I find that I'thou wasting a lot of h2o attempting to totally clean out a peanut butter jar.

I don't feel it information technology's worth cleaning it out totally; I feel it's just ameliorate to put information technology in the trash because of the amount of h2o that'southward beingness wasted.

I can't imagine people in drought-stricken areas wasting a lot of water cleaning out such items.

Your thoughts?

— DJ

A: We ask that containers be empty at a minimum, and rinsed whenever possible, for several reasons. Empty and rinsed containers are easier to sort at the recycling facility. Containers with liquid in them tin can break open and the liquid can glaze other recyclables, reducing the value of the unabridged twenty-four hours'south piece of work. If the liquid is harmful, it can put our workers at risk.

From a consumer standpoint, y'all want to exist sure to scrape out every concluding fleck of food in the jar for your ain use. If you lot can get one more sandwich out of that peanut butter jar, information technology'south worth the try to scrape.

While not necessary only certainly welcome, if you lot want to become the peanut butter (or mayonnaise or other glutinous nutrient) jar equally clean equally possible, hither's what I do: Put a few drops of dishwashing liquid in the jar, fill information technology with hot water, put the lid dorsum on, and milkshake. Go out the jar sitting overnight. The next morning, empty the jar, give it a quick rinse, place the lid back on loosely, and recycle. At most, you've used two jars of h2o.

Exercise you have to put the jar in the dishwasher? No, and the overnight soak isn't necessary, either, if you've scraped out most of the food.

Just permit'south expect, as well, at the effects of throwing the jar away. Plastic peanut butter jars and lids are made of a valuable resource — i that can be sold on the global market and used to make new products, giving both the jar and the chapeau a 2d life.

The landfill is besides a resource, albeit a finite i. Items that are landfilled volition never again see the low-cal of day. There is no possibility of "mining" the Central Landfill to recover recyclables. Unsealing a landfill defeats the purpose of closing it when full, which is to proceed odors in and keep animals and rain out.

But we need to go along recyclable items out of the landfill for a better reason: The Central Landfill will not last forever, and volition close in our lifetime. It is vitally important to merely put not-recyclable materials in the landfill, materials that accept no other place to go. Replacing the landfill — a valuable state nugget — volition cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

But, the indicate about not wasting water resource is valid. Drought-stricken areas of our land are fighting local battles against companies borer their scarce resources to bottle the water for sale. A great mode to help our friends in California is to employ reusable water bottles filled with water from our local reservoir. This keeps plastic out of the landfill and keeps California'southward h2o right where it belongs.

— Sarah Kite-Reeves, manager of recycling services at Rhode Isle Resources Recovery Corporation, answers questions about recycling, municipal composting, hazardous household waste matter, waste reduction and other related matters. Transport your questions to Trash Tutorial, Features Department, The Providence Periodical, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902. Or, email features@providencejournal.com. Put "Trash Tutorial" in the subject field.

Source: https://www.providencejournal.com/story/entertainment/house-home/2015/09/12/peanut-butter-jars-need-not/33553931007/