(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is another in a series of recycling tips from the City of Covington's Neighborhood Services Department, Solid Waste & Recycling Division.)

COVINGTON, Ky. – It’s not enough to know whether to recycle a food or drink container … you also need to know what to do with the lids and caps.

The easy solution? Think about it by categories:

Plastic bottles, jugs and tubs (2-liter and 16 oz. soft drinks, milk jugs, butter tubs, laundry detergent, squeeze-bottle mustard, salad dressings etc.): Reattach the lids and then recycle. (Reattaching is important because the lids can’t go through the Material Recovery Facility process loose.)

Glass bottles and jars (beer bottles, pickle and salsa jars, mayonnaise jars, etc.): Remove the lid and toss both the lid and glass container in the recycling cart separately. However, if it’s a plastic lid on a glass jar, such as for some salad dressings and spice jars, you throw the plastic lid away. (High-powered magnets pluck the metal lids off the MRF lines.)

“Aseptic” cartons (juice boxes, broth, soup, Almond milk): Remove the lids and straws and throw away, but recycle the carton.

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