“When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’” (John 6:12)

Jesus clearly didn’t want us to be wasteful, so He would be pleased to have us recycle as much of our packaging as possible! When doing so, we should dispose of it in our recycling bin in as clean a condition as we can manage. That way it will not be removed from the recycling stream because of heavily soiled condition.

Most plastic, glass or metal containers just need a thorough rinse. Here’s a tip for cleaning stubborn items, like peanut butter or mayonnaise jars: Fill with warm soapy water, cap and shake, empty and re-rinse several times until clean! Labels don’t need to be removed. Paper board, like pizza boxes, can be recycled but only include them if they aren’t heavily stained with grease. Greasy boxes should be disposed of in the regular trash, but only the stained part of the box. If the box lid is clean, recycle it!

Plastic lids can be left on when recycling bottles. Any lid that is made of the same material as its container can be included, so plastic bottles or metal cans with their lids are allowed to stay together. Glass jars with metal lids should be recycled separately to avoid time wasted during sorting.

Remember to, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted!”

–Joni Burtner, God’s Green Team Member