Recycling seems easy enough. First find out what can be recycled in your area and then place only those items into the recycle bin. However, life happens . . . kids happen . . . and even spouses happen. You educate them on what can and cannot be recycled, but somehow items like used paper towels, banana peels and other random non-recyclable items end up in the recycle bin. (Sigh.)

Let’s define recycling contamination and explain why it matters that we (and the ones we co-habitate with) do our best to limit it, if not stop it all together.

Recycling contamination is non-recyclable material that ends up in the recycling system. If your recycling bin collects specific items, such as beverage containers, then anything other than that could be considered a contaminant.

Today the average contamination rate is approximately 25 percent. That means that roughly one in four items placed in a recycling bin is not recyclable. This creates major problems for the recycling economy. It also means that the 25 percent has to be transported to the landfill. Another issue of recycling contamination is that other countries and companies that buy recyclable products may not want them anymore. For instance, in January 2018, China banned almost all imports, only accepting less than one percent of its 2016 total.

So, the big question: What is happening to our recycling now? Plastic in the U.S. is ending up in landfills or getting incinerated, which creates pollution. Plastic waste and other recyclables are also being exported to southeastern Asian countries such as Malaysia or Vietnam, but these destinations are getting overwhelmed with the quantity. Big changes need to happen within the U.S., and the current export of recyclables needs to be dealt with inside our borders.

Sounds like an overwhelming problem, right? But we can start in our own homes and businesses. We can make sure that what gets put in the recycle bin actually can be recycled, while all else goes into the garbage bin. Small steps will get us, as a country, headed in the right direction.

Let’s work together to put a stop to recycling contamination today.