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?

I rinse them or stick them into the dishwasher with an existing load because otherwise they smell, especially in summer.

.....reduce, reuse then recycle......

I'd agree - sadly, the family youngsters don't at the moment.

I do wash/rinse my recycling.

However, I have the suspicion that it all goes off to the incinerator (my area doesn't do landfill) anyway so I may be wasting my time, but it would be a bit wiffy to have milk bottles with gone-off milk dregs inside them in the recycling bin for two weeks.

Oh so that's why my bins are different colours.

Yes - it goes in the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes and I always remove the paper from around the tins so it too can get recycled.

The food bin and the garden waste bin stink enough - I don't want my recycling bin to add to the mix.

Who does that. The factories clean it. You must have a lot if free time. Wow

This thread should be nominated for a 'keep it interesting' award.

I wash mine. I don't however peel off labels etc. it takes 2 minutes to do. and I have a cat who has sachet food so they're a pain to wash.

I rinse mine, don't want my lovely new recycling bin getting stinky. Takes seconds, use the left over washing up liquid.

If you don't wash/rinse pet food cans, flies can lay eggs on the dregs and then you have maggots. Personally I find that truly vomit worthy!

It takes no time at all to stick them in the dishwasher with an existing load and the extra water will be minimal, if any.

We have a black bin for general rubbish, a brown bin for garden waste and a green bin for paper, cardboard and plastic. Glass either goes in the black bin or can be taken to a local glass bin. All are emptied every 2 weeks.

I've never noticed the green or black bins smelling, even in summer. If the brown bin is left for more than a few days, that does go a bit sour but so what. It's a bin, no-one is eating their dinner out of it.

Yes, the milk dregs inside the container inside the green bin might go off, but I don't put my head in the bin to find out whether it smells or not.

We have one enormous (closed) wheely bin now for all our recycling - no flies and no employees touch it til it gets to the plant when it's sorted.

All glass/cardboard/tins/recyclable pouches (which are unwashable and by far the grossest) goes in it

No chance, ours all goes in the general waste bin anyway.

Like Laurie all recycling goes in a wheely bin. And I don't rinse anything and have had no complaints.
If I had to rinse it, I'd chuck it in general waste. I'm lucky in that I don't seem to generate much general waste and would have plenty of space to do this.

All of you who don't wash the recycling - does this attract vermin like mice and rats or am I barking totally up the wrong tree here? I've got no idea, just a simple question.

Mice and rats don't seem to be able to get into a closed wheely bin. If you used open crates, it may be more of an issue.

I've never seen a crowd of mice and rats hanging round our recycling bins desperate to get to the maggots and rotting catfood lurking within.

Or it could be that the cat that I thought was a really good hunter just hangs around near the bins waiting for the hordes to arrive and leap into her mouth.

I rinse them for a second under the tap, I don't wash them as such.

Hold on...WHY AM I EVEN POSTING ON THIS MIND NUMBING THREAD?

It gets a quick rinse if I happen to have a bowl of used washing-up water handy. Not going to waste clean water on it.

I always get bollocked by DH for not scrubbing the recycling. I sluice out the many, many milk containers, but never boil away the dregs of a butter tub. Where's the sense in that? At least I put the items in the recycling bin and drag it up the path, everyone else just leaves it all randomly strewn over the kitchen work tops

Plastic trays from meat products are washed by the spaniel :o

Maggots can grow on anything- you may as well wash every bit of rubbish if that's your worry- not just recycling

Ours doesn't need to be washed and tbh I have better things to do. It all gets cleaned at the recycling centre so I don't really see the point in washing it twice.

Plus we don't have a dishwasher and only a tiny sink for washing up, plus two cats who knock things everywhere, so if stuff isn't either in a bin or in the sink, it gets played with and it's too dangerous ime. I'd rather dump them straight in the bin than leave them taking up precious space in our shoebox flat.

I do rinse (and occasionally scrub), but I take care to use the left-over water in the bowl, and not fresh clean water.