iRecycle Smart

A joint initiative between Charles County Public Schools and Charles County Government. Read More about iRecycle Smart

iRecycle Smart has been developed to reduce contamination of recycled materials. A contaminated bale is when 100% of the recycle load goes to waste because it's mixed with too many of the wrong things. The most problematic recycling issue is food contamination.

The goal is to keep the materials as clean as possible to make sure what we collect can actually be recycled.   When in doubt, throw it out.

The problem

• Wishcycling. The idea that if an item goes in the recycle bin, then it gets recycled. It won't, when in doubt, throw it out. Wishcycling costs workers time by having to hand pick items that don't belong and in turn, costs the facility money.
• Recycling the wrong types of plastics. Plastic bags, plastic silverware, Ziplocs, plastic films, and straws will cause significant damage to the machinery, hold contaminates and will have to be manually removed. If plastic film gets tangled in valuable materials, the entire bail goes in the trash. Perfectly bagged recycling will go in the trash.
• Un-rinsed containers. Significant food residue, such as peanut butter and pizza boxes, degrades the value of the material you are recycling and causes bail contamination. If contamination percentage rates are too high, 100% of the bail will be discarded.