Much of what we think is being recycled is instead going straight to the trash bin.
A city of Tampa study shows one-third of everything put in recycling bins shouldn't be there.
Plastic shopping bags, colored plastic bottles and just plain garbage litter the floor at Tampa's recycling transfer station. It's part of a study looking at what people recycle.
Thirty-seven percent of what's being found is contaminating the process of getting used containers, paper and cardboard to recycling plants. That means metal cans and glass are OK — but many plastics aren't.
Mark Wilfalk directs Tampa’s Department of Solid Waste & Environmental Program Management.
"Our goal is really to try and promote that message about what is and what isn't recyclable," Wilfalk said. "So some of the materials that our ratepayers may be used to recycling are no longer accepted in the programs.
"So we ask people to look at the arrows at the bottom of plastic containers —with either ones or twos on them — and put those in the recycling bin."
The city will start a campaign to educate the public about what should — and shouldn't — get tossed in the recycling bin.
