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"  If you discard chewing gum or a cigarette butt into an empty can or bottle, does that render it unsuitable for recycling? &amp;quot;Usually not,&amp;quot; says Richard Abramowitz, director of public affairs for Waste Management Recycle America. &amp;quot;While we&amp;#039;d like to have containers as free of contaminants as possible, stuff like that gets weeded out in the recycling process \u2014 if not at our plant, then farther up the road at the processor. The people we sell it to have systems that shred the material and clean out contaminants. If there&amp;#039;s a cigarette butt or chewing gum in there, it will get taken out down the road.&amp;quot; Robert Lange, director of the Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling for the New York City Department of Sanitation, notes that while the &amp;quot;processing of materials takes care of most of those things, it would be best if people didn&amp;#039;t put anything like that in there. I mean, is there a reason people should leave their cigarettes in beverage containers? This must be a question two people had while drinking beers.&amp;quot; RELATED LINKS:  CLOTHES: How They Can Love the Planet, Too   STYLE: 15 Great All-Natural Moments  HISTORY: Great Moments in Green, the Color  ENVIRONMENT: 20 Things You Should Never Recycle  EARTH DAY: The Lazy Man&amp;#039;s Guide   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/q-and-a/a7309/recycling-gum-0510/>