Our recycling says clean. I think it's a mtter of a health issue. Containers with stuff stuck to them is an invite to rodents.

Our program says to clean things out also. Believe it or not, this is one of the reasons several people I know give as for NOT recycling - they either don't want to clean things out, or feel they shouldn't have to. Ridiculous. Like they can't take a few seconds to swish some water around and rinse the darn container out? Drives me nuts...

:)
Dee

I live rural, and even items just going into the garbage are rinsed and treated with a little bleach or detergent - recycling gets rinsed as a matter of course. Pick-up is every other week, critters check out things every day. Not only rodents, but 'coons, wandering dogs and bears, so unless you want to pick up the blue bin and re-gather all the stuff, keep it as clean as possible.

Hi Lilo! Amen to that. I keep my can recycles outside in a bin with a lid. I rinse even my soft drink cans out, because the sweet liquid is an invite to yellow jackets and other sugar seeking wasps........not to mention maggots in food tins. I even tear off the paper and mash them, pretty much the same routine my mother used because when recycling was encouraged in WWII, everyone did it like that.

Hi, Calliope - afraid I'm old enough to remember the WWII recycling - and we were required to flatten the cans. Back then, recycling was a patriotic duty - now, it should be considered a moral duty. We owe it to the earth.
And yes, I rinse out stuff going into the recycle bin - even put some things in the dishwasher if there's room. One thing that did my heart good was to see the bins outside of our Publix super markets; one each for plastic bags, paper, foam meat trays and egg cartons, I think that was all. Made me proud to shop there. cora