Q Does it matter whether or not I wash out food and drinks cans before putting them in the recycling box — and what proportion of all those cans we use is actually recycled?

A Imagine life as a waste sorter or, perhaps more correctly, a recycling operative. It is early in the morning and you are wading through the Jones’s rubbish. Pick up one tin and you’re splattered with baked beans. Another is half full of old cat food. Meanwhile one of your boots is saturated with left-over canned beer.

While all tins that go for recycling pass through a washing, heating and crunching process which eliminates contamination from food and other products, most local authorities insist on washed and empty goods. Indeed, many refuse to take soiled tins. This is not only out of kindness to the collectors and sorters: tins with food left in them can smell and attract rats and other animals. Also relatively clean tins make recycling easier and cheaper — an important point in the continuing argument over ever- increasing council tax bills.

Though we might like to think that we buy more fresh produce these days, our appetite for tinned goods is stronger than ever. Around 12 billion steel food and drink cans — or about 600 per household — are used in the UK each year, plus at least another five billion aluminium drinks cans. Of those amounts, approximately 25 per cent of the steel and 50 per cent of the aluminium cans are recycled.

Recycling rates are improving, but as in most areas of waste processing, the UK lags well behind many countries in Europe. For example, Switzerland and Finland recycle more than 80 per cent of their tins and cans.

Most metals can be recycled indefinitely without losing their essential properties and, compared with plastic and many other packaging products, are ideal for recycling. This is particularly true of aluminium. Cans, foil, chocolate wrapping and yoghurt pot tops can be recycled and used time and again. Details of a scheme to encourage more aluminium recycling while at the same time raising cash for various charities can be found at www.alupro.org.uk

The economic downturn has caused severe problems for recyclers of steel tins, with prices at one stage recently dropping to zero compared with ?230 per tonne a year ago. The result is a build-up of stocks in many areas — and all the more reason for washing those tins.

Recycling companies report that some people put their used tins in the dishwasher: that’s a bit extreme and a waste of energy. A good rinse should be enough.

问：把装食物、饮料的罐头筒放进回收箱前是不是要洗干净才行？我们用的这些罐头筒到底有几成真正被回收？

答：想象一下这样的生活吧，你是管废品分类的，或者更确切一点，是个回收工。你一大早从琼斯家的垃圾前磕磕绊绊走过去。捡起一只罐头听，里边的烧豆撒了一身；抓起另一只，里边猫粮还有一半；而这当下，你一只靴子里已经泡满了谁喝剩的听装啤酒。

虽然说罐头听在回收前都要经过清洗、加温、压扁等过程，以避免食物和其它制品产生污染，可多数地方政府还是坚持要把罐头听先清洗并倒干净。没错儿，有污染的罐头听不能收。这不仅是体谅收集和分类的人员(留有食物的罐头听有异味，而且招惹老鼠和别的动物)，并且，比较干净的罐头听回收起来更容易、也更经济(这点很重要，因为关于不断提高地方税收(council tax)的争论一直在继续)。

尽管我们可能会认为，现如今会买更新鲜的产品，可跟以前相比我们对罐头食品的胃口却更强了。英国每年消耗大概120亿钢罐食物和饮料(每家大约600罐)，加上另外至少50亿铝罐饮料，其中大约25%的钢罐和50%的铝罐得到回收。

回收率是在提高，但在废品处理的大多数领域，英国比欧洲许多国家落后很多：比如瑞士和芬兰要多回收80%的听和罐。

多数金属可以无限次地回收而不失其固有物理性质，并且与塑料和其它包装品相比，金属是理想的回收品。铝尤其如此。铝听、铝箔、巧克力包装及酸奶桶盖都可以回收并反复使用。有一项方案鼓励大家回收更多铝制品，同时给多家慈善机构筹集资金，详情参见www.alupro.org.uk网站。

经济低迷给回收钢罐的人造成严重问题，与一年前每吨230英镑相比，最近价位降至零。后果是许多地方听罐库存增长——所以更有理由清洗这些听听罐罐。

回收公司报导说有人把用过的罐子放到洗碗机里：这有点太过分了，而且浪费能源。洗洗干净就可以了。