To ask if you wash plastic bottles and other containers before putting them in the recycling?

[Motherinlawsdung]

Or does the giant recycling machine thingy clean them somehow anyway?

Things like shampoo bottles are almost impossible

I hate wasting shampoo, always suck in a little hot water, shake it up and get another shampoo or two out of it. But those aren't disgusting to leave with residue anyway.

I rinse out cans and things like ice cream tubs, not particularly thoroughly I must admit, but anything where there is an obvious residue.

I don't usually do milk bottles (plastic), juice cartons, fizzy drink/beer cans or water bottles.

I put glass jars through the dishwasher.

It all goes on a bag in a bin in the utility, which once full goes outside and then is collected weekly so we don't have any issues with smells or mould.

I do with the plastic trays meat comes in as they go in our kitchen bin and it would stink after a couple of days. Do rinse out things like baked bean tins but not bottles and stuff if they are lidded. TBH I do it more so it doesn't mess up our bins, never really thought about what happens at the other end

I rinse them first.

Thank you wise mumsnetters. I rinse ours. Now that I know that real people sort them out, not just some giant sorting/washing thingy, I will wash them more carefully in future.

We don't. The council have never refused to take anything and it all gets re washed anyway.

We don't sort the glass by colour either. Used to, until we watched a programme showing it all being dumped together.

Yes - rinse it out at the same time as I do the dishes

Me too.

I do rinse, yes, but only with the water left at the end of washing up- it is mad to use clean, heated water to clean something that's being recycled- the point of recycling is to save energy and resources!

I hate wasting shampoo, always suck in a little hot water, shake it up and get another shampoo or two out of it.

Yes, I do that too, but you can never get them completely clean. especially conditioner.

I never rinse anything that's going in the normal bin though and we don't have a problem with smells.

yes, they would stink otherwise. Only needs a quick rinse, when I'm feeling really green I use the washing up water!

main point is of course to generate as little recycling (and rubbish) as possible by minimising packaging.

Nope I don't unless it's particularly manky.
It all gets washed at our recycling centre anyway and the council don't pay my water rates.

I rinse tins, but don't bother with milk bottles as the lid goes on them and they go straight outside into the recycling box.

Yes. SIL was surprised as she doesn't.

Yes, although I often wonder if the amount of water I need to get them clean negates the environmental benefits.

Yes, I rinse everything (not a soap and water wash, admittedly, unless it's something really grubby like a Marmite jar). The only things I don't wash would be obviously clean, dry packaging (e.g. plastic trays from the Graze box) and actual water bottles. We don't buy much bottled water though, so the last one is a bit academic...

Most things get cursory rinse unless it's something like a wine bottle.

Yes, I don't want stinky recycling bins outside my door.

yes, rinse them in the washing-up water or under the cold tap. No need to fill a bowl of hot water specially.

Otherwise you will get ants, flies and maggots in your bin.

For the people who won't, I hope that one day you fall on hard times and have to work on minimum wage sorting stinking crap.

I watched a TV programme about this a couple of years ago. they said that plastic recycling cannot be used if it is dirty. So if you don't wash it, don't bother putting it in the recycling bin, as they can't use it anyway.

Yes. It takes seconds to rinse them out in the washing up water and it would make the recycling stink if I didn't.

I rinse tins, but don't bother with milk bottles as the lid goes on them and they go straight outside into the recycling box.

Aren't you supposed to take the lids off all recycling? We do in our area and the one we previously lived in.

Yes, we're supposed to remove all lids but I do leave them on when you can't get them off, which is true of some of the flip types.

I give them a quick rinse,

My council insist all plastic bottles etc. have the lids taken off.

My OCD mother washes everything thoroughly and even takes all the paer labels off cans and plastics. Takes her ages.

But what really drives me mad is when she washes, rinses and dries her Evian water bottles. WTF