To tell you that if you don't wash your recycling...

[MrsColon]

...before you put it in the recycling bin, it won't get recycled?

If you don't rinse out cans, containers, bottles etc. they will be rejected and go into landfill.

Not enough emphasis is placed on this in recycling campaigns, and in my experience, the majority of people just don't realise this.

Ds told me too so must have learnt at school

How does it get sorted? What process is it

@Pumperthepumper

That’s not true, it’s different for all council areas. Ours sent out a leaflet saying we didn’t have to rinse it out. I do because I don’t like the idea of old milk kicking about for weeks on end but you don’t have to.

^ this Depends on the council. It IS true for our LA though.

I didn't know that as I'd read that the recycling is washed when it's processed

Where I live I could make my recycling pristine clean but it still will end up in landfill because I have a communal bin and it is constantly being filled with any old crap - most of which isn't on the recycling list printed in BIG letters on the front of the bin and often it's in bin or carrier bags which also aren't meant to be in the bin and it says this in BIG letters too.
It pisses me off big time.
People also just dump stuff like sofas and mattress next to the bins and they sit there for weeks because the regular bin men don't take those.
People also dump sofas etc and random black bags of rubbish and boxes full of broken things next to random lamp posts or trees - nowhere near a bin.
It's shit, makes the place look shit. It depresses me how little people care.

@VainAbigail

So if I wash each thing I put for recycling, and the bin folk tip my whole bin in with every other streets recycling, do the people at the other end look at each individual item and determine the clean items and pick them out?

curious

Yep, it's human beings who pick through the conveyer belts of stuff and pull out the dirty stuff.

It's takes 10 seconds to wash a tin or rinse a plastic container - nobody is that time poor.

Yes, it's a tiny, tiny thing in the grand scheme of things, but if lots of us do it it makes a real difference. Micro changes are important.

I don't waste water to do it. There are always a few items that won't go in the dishwasher and I rinse the recycling in the left over washing up water.

On our recycling bags (we don’t have bins in our area) it’s written what can be recycled. It doesn’t mention anywhere that it has to be washed!

Our recycling system is slightly different as we have a lot of plastics, packaging stuff and metals go in one bag. The metal gets taken out and the rest gets burnt at a special rubbish furnace (Müllheizkraftwerk) that makes power for the local city. I do give things a rinse though so the bin doesnt get stinky.

@Nyxs

I was rinsing my milk bottle this morning wondering if you still need to. It was years ago I was told we should rinse them and haven't heard it since

No idea if I should still be doing it or not

Milk bottles used to have 'please rinse and return' embossed on them, I would imagine that's still needed although you'd hope they are sterilised before being reused!

We are told by the council to rinse our recycling but to me that means run the cold tap over them. Are we supposed to wash them in hot soapy water now?

Fgs whos got time for that?

That’s not true, it’s different for all council areas. Ours sent out a leaflet saying we didn’t have to rinse it out.

We've had similar leaflets here saying recycling doesn't need to be washed out. It definitely depends on your area.

Although I'm curious as to what happens in an area where it does need rinsing. If some people don't wash it out and their waste gets mixed in with all the washed waste in the lorry then does all that waste get sent to landfill?

@Pumperthepumper

That’s not true, it’s different for all council areas. Ours sent out a leaflet saying we didn’t have to rinse it out. I do because I don’t like the idea of old milk kicking about for weeks on end but you don’t have to.

Same here. Our council say we don't need to rinse it out either. It's dependent on which council you're with.

Also, as a pp said, you are going to use an unholy amount of water if you wash out every last damn thing. Just be sensible and wash the things if they're really mucky. No need to wash everything. That's bonkers.

Also - yes, there are many people who don't give a shiny shite and will abuse any system. It doesn't mean it's OK to give up! The more people do the right thing, the more social pressure there is on people who don't really care.

Not true where I live ... plus they sort through all the black bins for recyclables (city council in South England). All the black bins go through the machine. However the machine is at capacity and they need people to be putting more in the blue bins.

Could you please tell my DH? It falls on deaf ears.

I do wash my recycling as I don't want the bin to get all mucky....
But i remember on the news (west midlands) a few years ago there was a segment about recycling and the man at the recycle centre said it wasn't compulsory to wash it because it gets washed anyway, it must be a regional thing 🤷‍♀️

I do rinse everything but im sure there are times i have accidentally not been thorough enough, oh dear.
Years ago i heard or read that everything gets washed at the recycling centre, was this never true or has it changed??

Do people seriously not rinse out their recycling before it goes in the bin?!?!? Even things full of food waste? That's so disgusting!!!!

It doesn't need to be perfectly spotless, so no need to put it in the dishwasher or scrub it within an inch of its life, but all the food scraps need to be cleared out as far as possible.

And do people really not bother recycling in this day and age of awareness of just how much trouble we're in with the climate emergency? Just because it's a little bit of extra work? Really? Good grief, we really are doomed aren't we?

Interesting! I had ne er heard about that before.

We clean our tins and bottles but more to stop them smelling in the garage. I’m now wondering how clean it’s supposed to be
Eg it can be hard to remove some of the milk on the sides of the bottle

My local authority did a talk on recycling and it was almost the opposite. They explained how they collected a lot of recyclable waste from general waste during sorting. It was a talk aimed at business rather than the general public. I still wash my cans because I know it must be grim to sort waste with liquid that's gone rancid and mouldy inside.

Are you sure? That'snot what this article says, it seems to suggest "lumps" need removing but not more than that. It specifically says greasy pizza boxes are fine for recycling

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59133056

You can’t recycle pizza boxes?

@AnnieLobeseder, our neighbours doesn’t recycle. His comment is that everything in our LA just goes to the same place - the landfill so there is no point.

And tbf, there has been quite a few places that were like this. Incl programs on TV

Maybe there is also a need to tell people that some stuff have changed and it DOES make a difference.

Next door sling tuna cans and other unwashed tins and food containers in unwashed. and if their bin falls over it is horrible having to pick it up. It blows into my drive.

We just rinse ours under a warm tap usually. Takes seconds.

I was reading something today that says they do not need washing, just scraping. The only way they will be rejected is if 3D waste is left.

Wishcycling: The dos and don'ts of being good at recycling https:

//www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59133056