A solution to the wastage of plastic food packaging

[Spud]

A lot of the time plastic containers are so dirty that it's tempting for people to throw them in with the general waste. What I do is rinse out plastic bottles, which is easy to do without making a mess. Other plastic containers can just go straight in the dishwasher. The economy wash on ours is not too hot, so they don't melt. When clean they go in the recycling bag.

[SweetPea]

Spud

There was an item on recycling the other night on tv. They were saying that the plastic containers that are used for eg. ready meals are not recyclable. Something to do with an unrecyclable material that is mixed with the plastic. Surprising, eh?

[Walter]

A lot of the time plastic containers are so dirty that it's tempting for people to throw them in with the general waste. What I do is rinse out plastic bottles, which is easy to do without making a mess. Other plastic containers can just go straight in the dishwasher. The economy wash on ours is not too hot, so they don't melt. When clean they go in the recycling bag.

if you've got a real fire , chuck it on there mate ,it'll help warm your house, easy!

[Harrowby Hall]

I always check to see whether (or which) recycling symbols appear on the plastic. Most bottles are "1" or PET. Anything with this symbol goes into recycling - I consider that if it is not recyclable someone else can make that decision.

I put stuff into the dishwasher, too. It does not matter if it becomes deformed - it will not be used in its original form again. I do not screw tops back onto plastic bottles - they will only have to be removed before the bottle can be recycled.

I'm not sure that burning plastic is necessarily a good idea - some very nasty chemicals can be produced as it burns, Walter. Who knows, they may affect your brain ...

[Robbie]

I do all the above too, rinse, wash and recycle according to what it says on the packaging. My recycling bin is always full,I put a lot of cardboard boxes, bottles, jars and papers in too. Told at work I should get an A* for recycling envelopes and office stuff.
If it doesn't do that much for the environment, at least I feel virtuous which i don't feel about anthing else!