Hy spoel die plastiek en blik uit voordat hy dit herwin.

Because uitspoel is a separable verb in Afrikaans.

The full verb is uitspoel = to rinse out.
But in a main clause, the conjugated part goes in the usual verb position, and the separable part uit moves to the end:

• Hy spoel die plastiek en blik uit.

This is very common in Afrikaans:

• aantrek → Hy trek sy jas aan.
• opstaan → Ek staan vroeg op.

If the verb is in an infinitive or participle-like form, it stays together again:

• om die bottel uit te spoel
• uitgespoel

Here uitspoel means to rinse out.

It suggests washing out the inside of a container before recycling it. That is slightly more specific than just spoel, which can simply mean rinse or flush depending on context.

So:

• spoel = rinse / flush
• uitspoel = rinse out

In recycling contexts, uitspoel is very natural for things like cans, bottles, and containers.

Afrikaans often uses one article before two nouns joined by en when they are being grouped together.

So:

• die plastiek en blik = the plastic and tin/cans

You could also repeat the article:

• die plastiek en die blik

But that often sounds a bit more separate or emphatic. With one die, the two are treated as a natural pair or category.

Here blik means tin, metal can, or can depending on context.

In recycling language, plastiek en blik usually refers to recyclable materials or containers made of plastic and metal/tin.

A learner might expect a more direct word for can, but blik is very common in Afrikaans for this idea.

No. Afrikaans uses die for the in both singular and plural.

So:

• die bottel = the bottle
• die bottels = the bottles

That makes Afrikaans simpler than some languages in this respect. In this sentence, die works fine before the grouped nouns plastiek en blik.

Because voordat introduces a subordinate clause, and in Afrikaans subordinate clauses normally send the finite verb to the end.

So:

• Main clause: Hy spoel die plastiek en blik uit
• Subordinate clause: voordat hy dit herwin

This is a very important Afrikaans word-order pattern:

• Ek weet dat hy kom.
• Sy sê dat hulle dit doen.
• Voordat hy dit herwin ...

So the position of herwin is normal and expected after voordat.

In this sentence, dit refers back to the plastic and tin/cans as a single group or material, not as separate individual items.

So dit works like it / that stuff / it all.

This can feel unusual to an English speaker, because English often uses them for two or more things. But Afrikaans often uses dit when referring to something understood as a single mass, category, or combined recycling material.

If you were strongly thinking of several separate objects, hulle might seem possible in some contexts, but dit is very natural here.

Because voordat hy dit herwin is a full clause, and full clauses normally need their own subject.

English sometimes allows more compression, like:

• before recycling it

But Afrikaans here uses a normal subordinate clause:

• voordat hy dit herwin

So the subject hy has to appear again.

Herwin literally means something like recover, reclaim, or recycle, depending on context.

In a recycling sentence like this, herwin is a standard and natural choice for recycle.

So:

• Hy herwin glas. = He recycles glass.
• Herwinde papier = recycled paper

A learner may notice that it does not look like the English word recycle, but it is the normal Afrikaans verb here.

Not in this exact structure.

The sentence uses voordat + a full subordinate clause:

• voordat hy dit herwin

That is different from an infinitive structure with om ... te.

For example, you could say something like:

• Hy spoel die plastiek en blik uit om dit te herwin.

That means He rinses out the plastic and tin in order to recycle it.

So both patterns exist, but they mean slightly different things:

• voordat hy dit herwin = before he recycles it
• om dit te herwin = to recycle it / in order to recycle it

Yes, plastiek is singular in form, but here it behaves more like a material noun or mass noun, like English plastic.

That means Afrikaans does not need a plural ending here, because the idea is plastic material / plastic items as a category, not several individual plastics.

So this is similar to English:

• the plastic and cans
• plastic and metal

In real usage, recycling language often talks about materials this way rather than counting each object one by one.

Historically, it is built from that idea, but in normal modern Afrikaans you should treat voordat simply as the conjunction before.

So in this sentence:

• voordat hy dit herwin = before he recycles it

It functions as one word introducing a subordinate clause, not as two separate pieces you need to analyze every time.