6 tips for preparing your drink containers for recycling

Recycling is a great way to help the environment, because it helps keep our planet clean and keeps our resources in a loop of continuous reuse. This reduces our reliance on raw materials for producing new containers, and ensures fewer containers end up discarded in oceans, streets and landfills.

If you’re new to reverse vending, or looking for ways to better organize your home recycling area, here are a few things to keep in mind before you bring your bottles and cans to a reverse vending machine. 

Do not throw your containers in the household waste bin. This ensures you can get your recycling deposit back, and your containers remain separate from other waste and clean enough to be recycled into new bottles and cans in a continuous loop.
 

1. Rinse drink containers before storage. It only takes a few seconds, and means you avoid any stickiness or spills when you put away your bottles and cans or take them back for recycling.
    
2. Keep containers uncrushed and with labels intact.Crushing containers or removing the labels makes it hard – or impossible – for the reverse vending machine to scan the barcodes. Make sure your containers get recognized and you get back your refund for doing the good deed of recycling.
    
3. Make storage simple and convenient. Storing containers in a convenient location makes them not only easy to access, but helps you remember to bring them to be recycled. This might be your cupboard, laundry room or basement, or even your garage or car so they are ready to transport. Store your bottles and cans in a reusable bag or box, so you don’t have to throw it away when you finish recycling.
    
4. Keep containers out of reach of small children. Some cans might have sharp edges or glass bottles could break, so be sure to store them somewhere safe where small, curious fingers can’t reach them.
    
5. Check if you need to separate container types. Check your nearest recycling location to see if you need to return your cans, glass and plastic bottles to different reverse vending machines (it may be that all your containers can go in one machine). Store them in separate bags or boxes at home to make returns faster and easier when you arrive.

You can return your empty beverage containers at a reverse vending machine or a redemption center. Recycling bottles and cans properly prevents them from becoming litter, and also gives them the best starting point to be recycled into new bottles and cans. It's a simple way to be a part of creating a cleaner world!