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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Do you clean your recycling before putting in the bin?

245 replies

Frosty66612 · 21/07/2018 12:45

Bit of a boring one but do you rinse out tins and yogurt pots etc before putting them in the recycling bin, or do you just put them straight in?

OP posts:
Skyejuly · 21/07/2018 14:18

Yes. I thought you had too.

LavendarGreen · 21/07/2018 14:18

@Jacqueshammer

Astonished that people wouldn’t. If you’re not going to rinse you’d be better off not recycling.

Don't be ridiculous. Hmm

And for the record, although I scrape the food out of the containers, am I bollocks going to sit there rinsing and scrubbing and washing them, and neatly drying them off before putting them in the recyclables... Fuck that. I have better things to do. Plus, it is a terrible waste of water!!

Knock yourselves out pearl-clutchers.... Grin

4GreenApples · 21/07/2018 14:21

I wash recycling, as my council asks people to.

The council has an a-z of rubbish on their website saying what can be recycled and what can’t, black plastic (i.e. food trays) can’t be recycled where I live.

ADastardlyThing · 21/07/2018 14:24

I really can't understand how rinsing out a milk bottle in dirty greasy food particled dishwater is in any way better than just putting it straight in the recycling Confused

There's no way the stuff isn't washed out anyway at the plant, no way are they relying on Sharon from number 15 to have throughly cleansed her bottle properly before sending it to recycle.

4GreenApples · 21/07/2018 14:24

Also, one of our neighbours didn’t wash their recycling, and then the binmen refused to collect their recycling as it was crawling with maggots when they opened the top of the recycling wheelie bin Envy Envy Envy (not envy)

I’d rather not risk that, even if the council weren’t bothered about the recycling not being washed.

JacquesHammer · 21/07/2018 14:25

And for the record, although I scrape the food out of the containers, am I bollocks going to sit there rinsing and scrubbing and washing them, and neatly drying them off before putting them in the recyclables... Fuck that. I have better things to do. Plus, it is a terrible waste of water!!

Who said they do that? Confused

Doing a load of washing up. Takes an extra 30 seconds. Go in drying rack.

Goes in dishwasher. Dried for me.

If you class that as effort you must have terribly low standards

arranfan · 21/07/2018 14:25

As PP have said, better not to recycle some things at all than put in dirty or waste water cleaning.

In my area, if you put something in the non-recycling bin that you should have washed and recycled, then you'll be tagged and fined.

Blostma · 21/07/2018 14:26

Yes. Ours is not picked up if there is any visible food residue. Plus the foxes empty the whole box if there is food in it.

SilverySurfer · 21/07/2018 14:27

Yes, of course. revolting not to Anyone not cleaning their recycling should me made to work for a week at the recycling conveyor belt - see how they like picking up filthy, smelly rubbish, not to mention maggots.

JacquesHammer · 21/07/2018 14:27

We have stickers on our bins stating that recycling won’t be collected if it’s not washed. The operatives check through the top of each bin and won’t take a bin if they find unwashed items

4GreenApples · 21/07/2018 14:28

In my area, if you put something in the non-recycling bin that you should have washed and recycled, then you'll be tagged and fined.

Aren’t you allowed to put the non-recyclables in bin bags? Or do the bin men randomly rip open bin bags to check?

worstmovieever · 21/07/2018 14:31

That's odd because we were told to throw away leftovers but don't worry about washing it out because it gets done at the recycling plant and they don't want us to waste water.

thedevilinablackdress · 21/07/2018 14:31

Your local council is very likely to have a page on their website explaining what they do and don't recycle and that it should be rinsed.

ADastardlyThing · 21/07/2018 14:32

Same worst! Wonder if we live in the same area?

For once my council use their common sense!

daisychain01 · 21/07/2018 14:32

Anything involving raw chicken and seafood is given an extra blob of soap and hot water just to be on the safe side for all concerned, us, the binmen and the recyclers. Takes seconds.

dairyfarmerswife · 21/07/2018 14:35

I do rinse yoghurt pots, tins etc, because otherwise the dog lugs them off to lick clean and spread across the lawn, but they aren't crystal clean and the tuna tins still smell enough to interest her. Jars go in the dishwasher. (I never rinse plates in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher, surely that defeats the object and wastes more water?)

And I never remove labels...

Maryann1975 · 21/07/2018 14:37

I know someone who doest wash recycling and she often has maggots coming out of her bins, which makes me want to boak. It takes a couple of minutes to wash the stuff out when I’ve finished the washing up and if that means I don’t have maggots in my bin, it’s completely worth it!

stargirl1701 · 21/07/2018 14:40

Yes, of course.

We also wash any landfill waste now too. We have reduced it to 30 litres a month for a family of 4 so it is only uplifted once a month.

glamorousgrandmother · 21/07/2018 14:41

Always, I stick mine in the dish washer. I don't want a stinky bin.

InfiniteVariety · 21/07/2018 14:43

Yes I rinse everything but I do wonder how effective it is because of all the people who don't - if their dirty items get mixed up with all the clean stuff, everything is contaminated

Batteriesallgone · 21/07/2018 14:44

It depends. I only rinse where I think not rinsing risks the foxes going through our bins, or getting maggots, or it smelling in hot weather. So Nutella jars get washed, for example. Plastic trays that ham come in where every scrap has been eaten - no washing.

On the whole I try not to waste much water or soap washing recycling. If I can get away with not washing I will leave it. We are a family of five and put a tiny amount in our black bin - we generate huge amounts of recycling and cleaning all of it would be a huge task. ‘Just put it in the dishwasher’ like there’s ever going to be lots of space in our dishwasher!!

We are currently running at two green boxes (plastic) one large cardboard box filled with cardboard, one black box (paper) and two brown boxes (food) every week. Note these are boxes, not bins, but still, it’s a lot! It would waste a lot of water to wash all the plastic just to be ‘safe’. I presume the recycling plant must have a rudimentary rinsing system, not having would be ridiculous.

OP, if you are trying to persuade your sister, point out that in this weather anything with food left in must surely be getting a bit stinky...approach it from that angle (reducing house smell, risk of foxes) rather than arguing about the processes at recycling plants.

ChiefSpoon · 21/07/2018 14:45

The dog does a pre wash of most things and I rinse using the water I've washed up in. So they aren't "clean" but not covered in food residue!

arranfan · 21/07/2018 14:47

Aren’t you allowed to put the non-recyclables in bin bags? Or do the bin men randomly rip open bin bags to check?

No bin bags allowed even for non-recyclables - if it's not in the wheelie bins, it's not picked up. And they do random checks on the bins.

arranfan · 21/07/2018 14:49

Anything involving raw chicken and seafood is given an extra blob of soap and hot water just to be on the safe side for all concerned, us, the binmen and the recyclers

I get that. But - the massive contradiction here is that the FSA and other Public Health bodies warn us not to wash chicken or other similar items for fear of contaminating our sinks or surrounding area with splashes.

Yet, here we are, washing raw chicken/fish packaging to put it in the bin...

We are in huge need of clarification and standardisation.

Summersup · 21/07/2018 14:52

If things are hard to clean now, I just chuck them away on the basis that they won't get recycled anyway and me scrubbing at them wasting water and detergent is defeating the point.

Yoghurt doesn't come out with a 'quick rinse' so I don't recycle that any more. Plastic milk cartons much better.

I don't know about trays for ready meals/cooked items, seems ridiculous to throw them but also anything with oil in it can't just be 'rinsed 'in 2 sec as people claim on here they are doing.

I do far less recyling now I understand the limits of it, mainly cardboard and newspaper/adverts more than cooking stuff as it's pointless saving it and putting it in the bin if it just gets ditched on arrival unless really clean which it won't be as I use a dishwasher and am not starting to wash extra bowlfuls of rubbish which is probably incinerated anyway.