Do you clean your recycling before putting in the bin?

[Frosty66612]

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?

Funnily enough, just seen this come up on Twitter from our local council. Apparently, according to their “Recycling Newsletter” they’re doing talks in various areas to help reduce confusion surrounding recycling. Pleasantly surprised!

I rinse, mainly because the recycling bag stays in the kitchen till bin day, and it would smell.
Our area is quite good for recycling. We have a blue box for paper/cardboard, a food waste bin, a pink bag for glass/plastic/other recyclable stuff and a white bag for clothes/textiles (I only use that one every few months or so). It has definitely helped me reduce the black bag waste.

Oily things, peanut butter, nutella jars etc I clean them first with used paper towels and napkins. Those get very little dirt on them and I keep them for wiping these things with.
I colect the water used for washing hands in the things that need recycling and use that to wash them with a bit of extra washing up liquid id needed.

Why are some of you being so rude to each other on a thread about recycling?

Flexible spatulas are good for scraping the last bits out of peanut butter jars after a soak in hot water. It doesn't have to go down the plus hole. Collect it in a plughole trap or some kitchen paper. Or some old unrecyclable packaging.

Ds2 has some acrylic tumblers which go cloudy in the dishwasher. I also managed to wash the design off ds2's favourite mug :( I have oven trays and pans that need handwashing. And some that simply don't fit in our dishwasher.

Oily things, peanut butter, nutella jars etc I clean them first with used paper towels and napkins. Those get very little dirt on them and I keep them for wiping these things with

I do that with paper towels and napkins that are pretty clean. Sometimes, I stuff a towel/napkin into an oily jar, run the microwave on medium/low, just enough to loosen the material, and then swish the paper round to get most of it out. Another wipe round with vinegar and it's good to wash (if I'm re-using it).

Yes

I wash them, generally a little bit of water and dish soap and shake.

But you didn't use to have to do it in my area so some of the OP that don't do it, might not have to.

I admit that Nutella and peanut butter jars get chucked, same with anything that takes too much effort as there's no room in my dishwasher usually.

I don't have the room to leave manky jars around waiting to be washed so they get dealt with in the spot.

The only thing I don't rinse is empty water bottles, they only had water in them after all but yes everything else gets rinsed.

I have a bag from my last council which sits in the kitchen into which all the recyled stuff goes. I rinse out cans bottkes and plastics sometimes in hot soapy water and leave to dry on draining board. Also put jars into dishwasher along with tin foil trays. Other tin foil which has been used for say wrapping items in fridge gets put into general waste. Once bag is full I empty it into the recycling wheelie bin which we purchased when we moved in 2 years ago and which I kept spotless. This bin somehow got replaced with one of our neighbours manky bin(I spotted what looked like a banana at the bottom along with other things) I was not a happy bunny but do not know who has my bin. I suspect the neighbours across the road as the -bin men- refuse collectors may have mixed them up but if it was them my bin is now just as manky

Hanging it always happens!

Nope, I refuse to waste water washing my bloody rubbish!

Why is it "wasting" to make use of your washing-up water?

I don't have 'washing up water', just a dishwasher.

Yes, I wash or rinse out and flatten stuff. Pure habit.

Yes I don't put anything dirty in the recycling, I rinse out tins, bottles and cardboard cartons.

lavendargreen I'm in north Scotland and we also have the "one bin" mixed recycling policy. All paper cardboard plastic tins etc all go in one big blue bin which is collected fortnightly. The only thing we can't put in is glass, have to take that to a local recycling point - which is a pain but doable as it's in the car park of local park where I walk the dog quite often.
So please don't mock or imply Jacqueshammer is lying, she's not, there are several councils in our area that have the one bin thing.

always or there be too many flies

Do I heck? No, I just bung it all in. It's rare for it not to get rained on while it's outside - even in the current heatwave, we've had several showers.

Please rinse/wash it..

Some poor bastard has to sort through your recycling by hand. It stinks, it is NASTY, its a cold, smelly, wet, horrible job with shit pay as well.

My OH did it for a while when he was temping - it is vile and the things inconsiderate wanksplats put into their recycling bins is beyond vile - dead animals, shitty nappies, you name it, he's seen it.

Guideline I've read say everything recycled must be clean. Anything not clean = rubbish.

Plus - the smell.

Our recycling is sorted into the vans as it is picked up. The bin men pick up the boxes and inspect / drop recycling into the right area of the lorry by hand.

I often watch with the kids from the window!

This means anything not suitable can be desposited back at the house (usually right in front of the door), not causing contamination and alerting the resident that what they have provided isn’t suitable.

Maybe more councils should adopt this approach.

@LavendarGreen I use to use my dishwasher once a week and so did my one of my friends' when she lived on her own. When I was lodging in a flat the dishwasher was used 2-3 times a week. In all cases it was due to the household only consisting of people working so there not being lots of plates, cutlery and other dishwashable items in it.

@RoseWhiteTips depends what you eat. Cereal bowls don't stink.

@Celticrose put your door number on all your bins/recycling containers even if they belong to the council.

@JacquesHammer my council decided anything plastic with a recycle sign should go in the recycle bin as it means more recyclable things end up in it. When they made people select plastics it lead to people either not bothering to recycle at all or still putting them in.

Likewise for years 3 London councils I lived in kept telling people that tetra packs weren't recycleable. When people didn't stop putting them in the recycling they found away to get them to the one plant in the country that does recycle them.