I recently realized that a lot of restaurants and grocery stores routinely go through plastic buckets of various sizes. Restaurants get pickles in these buckets and just yesterday I got a bucket from the bakery department of a grocery store that had held frosting. These buckets aren't reused and are probably thrown away (or hopefully recycled). But I think if you ask for them, they are yours.

I'd like to plant carrots in it, but I'm not sure how best to clean it. I don't really want to have to scrub it with soap and water if I don't have to. Can I just plant in it and let the soil deal with it? I don't think that fat & sugar are particular favorites of worms or composting microorganisms.

Or can I just let it sit outside and let acid rain deal with it?