Dear Sir,
For the first time in many years in County Durham, recycling is down – 2.5% less than last year.  This is not due to a decrease in the amount collected; it is due to an increase in the amount rejected due to contamination – no less than 805 tonnes over the year (one fifth up on the previous year).
Apart from missing recycling targets, when a load is rejected, there is a financial penalty … and then that load has to go to landfill and the council has to pay again!
The problem, however, is about much more than realising (for example) that black plastic cannot be recycled. Certain people have been putting food waste, dog mess and dirty nappies into their recycling bins.
Just as bad, some are putting liquid waste into their recycling bins (e.g. cooking oil, meat juices etc.)  The problem is that these things then get spread over or seep into the paper and other recyclates, which makes the whole bin (and in some cases a whole lorry-load) unusable.
There will always be people who simply use both bins for general rubbish, or who can see nothing wrong with putting dead pets into the recycling bin. But I wonder whether many other decent and publicly-minded people realise that they are contaminating their recycling simply by putting items unrinsed into their recycling bins?
Could I please ask responsible members of the community to spread this message: that what we throw in our recycling bins must be fit to recycle.
Cllr John D Clare