Do you clean out your recycling?

[MarineBlue33]

My new cleaner said that I am the only person who does this. Surely not?
I rinse it out, wash with soap, let it dry and then put it in the recycling bin.
Wondering what others do...

Recycling has only just started here late last year.

Our recycling has to sit there for 4 weeks until pick up and can't be bagged up. Damn right I'm only putting clean, crushed things in the wheelie bin.
My neighbours however don't even empty the food or drinks out. That's okay for now in the cold months but come summer it's going to be extremely unpleasant when the dog food tins warm up. And their bins are a couple of feet from my back door.

Where is "here" @SomethingSuss?
In the UK councils have provided bins for recycling for many years.

I rinse things out. But I think some of my neighbours don’t. In my experience a lot of people are quite confused about recycling in the U.K. and don’t take it very seriously.

Have always cleaned everything (in soapy water) and leave to dry on draining rack. Have been doing this for almost 30 years - in the early days only glass and aluminium cans were collected for recycling but gradually more and more has been added to the list. We can now put soft plastic in the recycle bin, so I even open and wash empty crisp bags so they can go too.

@RampantIvy

Peanut butter jars are horrible to clean, aren't they. Some jars are designed to trap food. So much waste - grr.

If you get the big plastic tubs they are easy to scrape every bit out of.

I give things a rinse usually, but not always. I definitely dont wash and dry properly.
I understand we are supposed to wash it, but I dont have a dishwasher, and noone else does the bloody dishes. I already dont cope well with all the housework as it is.
I read that it can contaminate the load, but surely that means we need a better system for sorting and cleaning at the plant? Employ people? Is that such a crazy idea?
I felt bad about contaminating the load, so i started not recycling as much, only the easy stuff like paper, card and glass, but it meant i had too much stuff for the bin men as they only take 3 black bags, so ive started putting it back in the recycling anyway.
Im pretty sure plastic recycling is a con anyway. They just send it on ships to third world countries and dump it there

I give most things a rinse. Jars usually go in the dishwasher.

@Branleuse

I give things a rinse usually, but not always. I definitely dont wash and dry properly. I understand we are supposed to wash it, but I dont have a dishwasher, and noone else does the bloody dishes. I already dont cope well with all the housework as it is. I read that it can contaminate the load, but surely that means we need a better system for sorting and cleaning at the plant? Employ people? Is that such a crazy idea? I felt bad about contaminating the load, so i started not recycling as much, only the easy stuff like paper, card and glass, but it meant i had too much stuff for the bin men as they only take 3 black bags, so ive started putting it back in the recycling anyway. Im pretty sure plastic recycling is a con anyway. They just send it on ships to third world countries and dump it there

I have to say I agree I suspect recycling is a bit of a con and it's likely to get shipped away.

If food being left contaminates a whole load, I suspect very little would end up being recycled.

@Joolsin

Have always cleaned everything (in soapy water) and leave to dry on draining rack. Have been doing this for almost 30 years - in the early days only glass and aluminium cans were collected for recycling but gradually more and more has been added to the list. We can now put soft plastic in the recycle bin, so I even open and wash empty crisp bags so they can go too.

Soft plastic etc doesn't get recycled here, but bugger washing empty crisp packets!

Soft plastic etc doesn't get recycled here, but bugger washing empty crisp packets!

@tigger1001 i know that does sound ott, but it helps that , thankfully, I quite like washing recycling stuff!

Maybe she doesn’t know what they do. It’s quite unusual for a cleaner to be dealing with the rubbish (I don’t mean emptying bins, I mean putting rubbish in the bin).

I don't wash or rinse anything destined for the recycling

We can't recycle soft plastic yet where we live, or tetra packs or food waste.

I give things a cursory rinse, milk cartons, yoghurt pots. Don't use a lot of tins. Cardboard/ paper I pop in the woodstove.

Bit odd for you to be piling up the recycling for your cleaner to rinse though. It's more of done as it's used type of job.

Yes I do. I think about the people who work in the recycling centres.

I think very little that you put out for recycling actually gets recycled beyond glass and aluminium cans

Guardian article

I rinse things, but I don't wash them. I'm thinking of the opening credits of 'Keeping Up Appearances' that showed Hyacinth Bucket putting her milk bottles in the dishwasher.

Yes, I do it after I wash the dishes, because a) I don't want it smelling/growing mould and b) I don't want to "contaminate" the recycling. I realise that many people don't bother, and that winds me up a bit, as it doesn't seem a huge effort to recycle properly.

My elderly MIL doesn't bother, she just gets totally confused and doesn't understand about contamination, despite having it explained several times. I sometimes sort through her recycling and remove anything coated in food/grease, but she doesn't live nearby so I can't do it constantly. I'm sure that many elderly people are similar, they find it hard to adapt.

To the PP suggesting that councils need to employ more people to wash/sort the recycling, that's hardly an option when so many councils are struggling to fund the rising costs of social care, etc. I think that if people are able bodied and in reasonable health they ought to do their bit by recycling properly.

I put tins, jars, plastic containers through the dishwasher. Come out squeaky clean and fills up the daily load.

@cheeseismydownfall

Yes always. I wash out the recycling in the dishwater once I've finished washing pots etc. Takes seconds and doesn't use any extra water.

How does this work?

It works by swooshing things around in dishwater that is still warm and soapy.

So people are really leaving empty chicken packs for weeks with all the chicken juice festering in the bottom? 🤮 revolting

No, I don't waste water washing rubbish.

@A580Hojas

Yes I do. I think about the people who work in the recycling centres.

Dont you want them to have jobs to do

@user1493494961

No, I don't waste water washing rubbish.

It can't cost that much to rinse out a can or a jar.