To be annoyed at DMIL for putting a wet towel in the dustbin?

I think it’s a massive overreaction, but luckily the bins haven’t been emptied.

When I worked in a nursery, a four year old had massive diarrhoea on a large sofa throw.
My manager told me to take it home to wash. I said no. She made a point of it. I said no. This went on for a week with the filthy item in a bin bag in the nursery kitchen.
Eventually it disappeared forever, but I became ‘unhelpful’ and ‘uncooperative’ and was given all the worst jobs and scary druggy parents.
I wonder what your mil would have done.

Ok clearly it's lose lose for me now on this thread, this is what I meant about MIL's own insistence that we "must" take up their babysitting offers even when we don't really fancy it / it then feeling impossible to mention anything that we're uncomfortable with (and yep we need to work out if there was anything behind DS's accident!). Clearly should just have stayed home. I'm not sure FIL knows how to use a washing machine if I'm honest but maybe that's an easier conversation - the point of this thread was to check how reasonable opening up a conversation with her would be about either washing or replacing it or even just not doing it again, I've clearly not "been irate" to her in person/ on the phone, just they were my feeling last night when discussing with DH!

This thread is nuts. My son gave his toast and butter to the dog yesterday, we couldn't get it off her, the predictable happened and there was an 'episode' on the bathroom floor, incl. crap on the bathmat, scraped it off and put it in the wash with laundry cleanser...these things are washable, OP.

Ok clearly it's lose lose for me now on this thread, this is what I meant about MIL's own insistence that we "must" take up their babysitting offers even when we don't really fancy it / it then feeling impossible to mention anything that we're uncomfortable with (and yep we need to work out if there was anything behind DS's accident!). Clearly should just have stayed home. I'm not sure FIL knows how to use a washing machine if I'm honest but maybe that's an easier conversation - the point of this thread was to check how reasonable opening up a conversation with her would be about either washing or replacing it or even just not doing it again, I've clearly not "been irate" to her in person/ on the phone, just they were my feeling last night when discussing with DH!

Ok clearly it's lose lose for me now on this thread, this is what I meant about MIL's own insistence that we "must" take up their babysitting offers even when we don't really fancy it / it then feeling impossible to mention anything that we're uncomfortable with (and yep we need to work out if there was anything behind DS's accident!). Clearly should just have stayed home. I'm not sure FIL knows how to use a washing machine if I'm honest but maybe that's an easier conversation - the point of this thread was to check how reasonable opening up a conversation with her would be about either washing or replacing it or even just not doing it again, I've clearly not "been irate" to her in person/ on the phone, just they were my feeling last night when discussing with DH!

The waste argument is valid, un bag it and wash it now.

The bacteria argument is silly. What do you think bins are for?

DS is 4 and definitely doesn't routinely still have accidents so would have been a surprise I guess! And a regular Next bathmat, probably only a year old or something. I'd be pro taking it out the bin and washing it but should have added the point is we're away for a few days and they're housesitting / looking after the kids... we only found out about this on checking in with them after bedtime... so I'd be needing to convince the in laws to do the fishing out of the bin and washing! I'm not ungrateful for their babysitting although DMIL does continually play the "I insist that we babysit because I didn't live near family when I had kids and it was terrible" card which makes it hard to be anything but positive about their help/ say no once they know we have a wedding or possible plans etc. I think she just has more money than sense, not OCD as far as I can tell, but doesn't seem to understand that we can't afford to bin everything the kids make dirty even if she can!

This may just be as a result of being conditioned by my own mum to never put wet towels in laundry baskets so it just generally gives me the ick rather than being worried as such 😅

Given this is mentioned in some of the replies, we did cloth nappies with both kids, so no objections personally to washing wee/ poo in my machine and no nappies in my bins either not that I'd have been bothered about that. I wasn't trying to nitpick r.e. the mouldy bin point, you've all convinced me it's irrelevant it just came into my head at the time of posting (and yes we were at a wedding having had a few drinks!). Minus the effect of alcohol I'm afraid I'm still a bit wound up that she chucked a perfectly good bath mat though and that there's no easy way to address it!