A major contamination culprit is food residue. Washing out food scraps from recyclables is just as important as putting the right thing in the recycling bin!

Pizza boxes are among the most common offenders when it comes to contamination. The oil and grease cannot be separated from the fiber, making that material unrecyclable (throw it in the trash).

Your disposable coffee cup might seem like it can be recycled, but most single-use cups are lined with a fine film of polyethylene. If you’re putting these cups in with your recycling, they are likely contaminating the rest of the materials

Light bulbs should be disposed of in normal household waste. They cannot be recycled as with regular glass, as the fine wires in glass processing are very difficult to separate out and the cost to recycle these items is prohibitive.

Unfortunately, drinking glasses cannot be recycled because they contain added chemicals. These chemicals mean that the glass has a different melting point than the types of glass typically put in recycling bins.

You might have gotten into the habit of collecting your paper, plastics and glass in used plastic bags, but it’s important to note that the bags themselves should not be put in the recycling cart.