Recycling has firmly taken root in today's society as a must-do and many of us have at least a basic idea of what can and can't be recycled. Two household recycling surveys conducted by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) in 2019 found that around 60 per cent of Singapore households are recycling regularly.

While this is positive news, some of these good intentions have gone to waste because of recycling incorrectly. The problem is recyclable materials such as aluminium, steel, paper and plastic can easily become contaminated and end up in a landfill if we do not recycle them properly defeating the purpose of recycling in the first place. It certainly puts a damper on our good intentions when it comes to recycling, and something as simple as excessive grease in a pizza box can lead to unwanted contamination.

To avoid wasting time and good intentions of recycling, here are some tips to recycle more effectively:

• Rinse your recyclables: This is an important step as contaminated recyclables can dirty the rest of what's in your recycling bin, making it impossible to recycle. These items will then end up in the landfill. Rinse or remove debris from your glass, plastic containers, aluminum and tin cans and even aluminium foil.
  
  
  
  
• Try not to shred paper: Although shredding is sometimes unavoidable, especially when dealing with private documents. But don't do it to fit more into a recycling bin. If the pieces of paper are too small, some recycling centres will not accept them and even those that do have to lower the quality of what it can be recycled into. The length of the paper fibre determines if it can be recycled into high-grade material such as useful printer paper or low-grade material.
  
  
  
  
• Keep food wrappers away: Food wrappers made of plastic and styrofoam, dirty tissues and napkins cannot be recycled. The majority of coffee cups are lined with a membrane of plastic to make them waterproof, but this also makes them unrecyclable. The best way to save the environment is to reduce the use of food wrappers by bringing your own containers or cups when you pack food or coffee. However, plastic lined drink cartons, like milk and juice cartons are likely recyclable if you rinse them.
  
  
  
  
• Leave small items out: Small pieces can break the sorting machines at the recycling facility. Don't recycle anything smaller than a credit card. That includes straws, bottlecaps, coffee pods, plastic cutlery, paperclips and a million other tiny things that creep into our daily lives. These objects are too small to be sorted and can jam the recycling equipment.
  
  
  
  
• Don't bag your recyclables: Plastic bags and plastic wrap get jammed in recycling processing equipment. If you use a plastic bag to line your recycling bin, you can empty your loose recyclables into the recycling dumpster and take your empty plastic bag to a place where they will recycle plastic bags. If you can't find a plastic bag recycler, then either reuse your plastic bag or throw it in the trash bin.
  
  
  
  
• Recycle electronic items separately: Electronic waste such as small appliances and mobile phones should be recycled through an e-waste programme and not in the normal recycling bins. That's because they contain small amounts of hazardous substances which require proper disposal as well as valuable resources which can be extracted through proper handling and treatment.
  
  
  
  

While the above advice applies to most recycling efforts, different countries and places will have their own recycling guide and may accept different materials for recycling. To be sure you are not wasting your time recycling something that cannot be recycled, check your area's recycling guide. Singapore's recycling guide is available here.