Recycling should be a process in which clean, empty recyclable materials are sorted and baled then sent to the world market for reuse. Contaminants, however, prevent this process from not only going smoothly, but sometimes prevent it from going on at all.
Some commodities, such as metal, glass and sometimes even plastic, go through processes where small amounts of debris or contaminants don’t adversely affect the final product.
Small amounts of food or liquid left in soda bottles, vegetable cans or pickle jars will most likely not be at a contamination level that would render the whole load of recycling unusable.
“People have been making glass for more than 4000 years, and it’s one of the few materials in the world that is perpetually recyclable. The same glass can be broken down and reused over and over again — theoretically, a million times over.
Since recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than new materials, it takes less energy to reuse. In fact, much of the glass in your favorite bottle of beer has possibly been in tens, if not hundreds of bottles of beer before.”
Most recycling centers request that you to rinse out your recyclables before you put them into your bin for recycling. But what happens if you don’t?
If there are a few drops of soda in a bottle, a few small corn kernels in a can or some stray pieces of cereal in the bottom of a box, it shouldn’t be a problem to get these materials recycled.
If, on the other hand, there’s enough peanut butter or mayonnaise on the inside of a jar to make another sandwich, recycling centers may turn away the whole truck load due to contamination.
Recycling should be a process in which clean, empty recyclable materials are sorted and baled then sent to the world market for reuse. Contaminants, however, prevent this process from not only going smoothly, but sometimes prevent it from going on at all. 
