Why can't I put glass and film plastic in the blue recycling tote?

Glass, styrofoam, and film plastic must be handled differently than other recyclables to avoid contamination and damage to recycling processing machinery. 

Glass and styrofoam break into unrecoverable pieces during curbside collection, contaminating the load and, in the case of glass, posing health and safety issues for workers. 

Plastic bags and other film plastic must be handled separately from other recyclable materials because it gets wrapped up in the sorting equipment, causing lengthy delays and equipment failures. Also, when plastic film is mixed with other materials during collection, pieces of the other recyclables (paper, food containers) get wrapped up in the plastic; it is difficult to  separate the recyclables from the plastic film, resulting in unrecyclable material.

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