to wonder why you don't wash/rinse your recycling?

[kinkyfuckery]

Sorry, this has probably been done before.

We have an excellent kerbside recycling collection here. I know many people who don't rinse their recyclables as "Why should I?" "I can't be bothered" "Eh, why would I do that?"
For me, it's just an extension of washing up. Dishes get washed, pots get washed, then recycling gets washed. It sits on the draining board to drip dry then makes it's way to the recycling bin.

Do you? Those who don't, why not?

because I can't be arsed.

Because it is going to the tip (or a version of the tip).
I don't wash my general rubbish either.

and it gets washed / steamed at the recycling centre. but well done you

Cba either.

i do sometimes, and sometimes i dont. Depends how busy i am, and how behind i already am with housework shit.

Happy for you that you do it. We are all supposed to in an ideal world, but different people have different lives and priorities, as you may or may not have noticed

Because I have a dishwasher and there's no way I'm peeling off labels before putting it in the bin

And our council says they don't need to be washed

Obviously I'm referring to areas where it has been requested. Not sure if every council request that.

There's no need as it's a waste of water. After being sorted,the items are blasted clean with water prior to the recycling process at the plant.

Because I have a life.

I don't do it.
No one has ever told me I should. And I'm not going to start.

I don't wash my general rubbish either.

life is too bloody short.

We have our recycling in a big bag in the hall cupboard before it's carried down to the communal bins about every 10 days/fortnight. I'm not going to have old milk bottles and dirty cans stinking the place out for two weeks - so Yes. It's washed.

(Having said which, it gets a rinse at the end of the washing up after the animal bowls - no sense in using specific water and heat to wash recycling items. That rather defeats the purpose of the exercise.)

Well I do because ours is collected fortnightly, sits in a special cupboard in the kitchen, and I can think of better smells than two weeks worth of fermented baked bean cans and milk cartons

But I've never been sure whether it is otherwise necessary.

If you do want to make it easier for your items to be recycled, leave them loose in your recycling box & don't place them in plastic bags apart from the ones that might be given to you by your council for this purpose.

Otherwise, the bags have to be removed by hand during the sorting process which is quite labour intensive. Some plants bin anything that is delivered in plastic shopping bags so all your efforts go to waste.

I do so my bin doesn't get covered or attract flies. But despite my best efforts I'm sure my drains are suffering

A quick rinse to stop things growing/living in it or the bin getting too stinky, yes - the odd glass jar that's particularly manky might even get put in the dishwasher. (We DO get asked to rinse it here, too).

But we DON'T get asked to get everything perfectly clean (we got a leaflet specifically saying that's not necessary), and I think if we did, it would use more water and energy than would be saved by the recycling in some cases. Not to mention I would be forever slicing myself on tins and stuff.

Because as I stood at the sink one day carefully washing every cranny of a marmite jar, and a stream of lorries passed by my window a documentary about Dubai came on the radio and at that point the futility of it all crushed me.

I'll rinse put tuna or soup cans but that's it.
I take mine to the communal bin every few days though so don't worry about smells or vermin too much.

Probably depends if people have dishwashers or not. We don't, so wash up in the sink. I'll use the water left after rinsing dishes to rinse bottles/cans and soak labels off. I do this partly because we live in a flat and I don't want stinky milk bottles/cans building up for a few days and I don't want to be endlessly trotting along the road to the communual recycling bins.

I didn't.

Our recycling bins were emptied yesterday, went to put a bag in normal bin only to find that all of my unwashed jars etc had been chucked in it! I know I didn't put them there as I cleared kitchen cupboards and remember taking the recycling out and sorting it in the garden.

I probably will wash from now on

Of course I do. I thought you had to! Ugh, imagine the state of it all at the other end if it isn't washed before it goes in the recycling bin... Our blue bin (glass, plastic etc) gets collected fortnightly, after 2 weeks the contents would be a stinking mouldy mess if they hadn't been washed out.

What princess said

But I get little notes from the binmen (and an un-emptied bin!) if I transgress so in the washer with the dishes it goes...

Our recycling bin is for 'clean, dry' recycling