Should I wash out all household goods which can be recycled?

GDB2222

A_Lert said:

We have a dishwasher and I do washing up once in a blue moon.

"What do I do with stuff that isn't dishwasher safe?" I don't let it in the house

We do very little washing up by hand. It all goes in the dishwasher, which incidentally uses far less water than (our) hand washing. We also never run the dishwasher unless it is full. 

So, washing the recycling definitely does mean more dishwasher cycles, more water and electricity usage, more detergent down the drain, etc. 

I liked the idea of using milk bottles to water the plants. Nice one, that, as it really does seem to clean out the bottles with no environmental cost at all. 

Niv

If people are seriously suggesting the only barrier to them rinsing out recycling is extra water use just save some of the bath / shower water and rinse in that. You don't need detergent, its a rinse out to get rid of the worst of it. 

I will repeat what I said earlier : treat others as you would like to be treated

if you are not rinsing out that recycling you are sending manky / mouldy food to recycling operatives to deal with. Not only increasing the chances of local residents raising odour complaints but also attracting vermin to their facilities as well as to your own property.