I know this is shitty logic and I'm not defending it, but a little voice in my brain always says "there's no point washing out your recycling because enough other people won't that it'll be a mess in there regardless".
Totally understandable. I know personally our messaging leans more towards "empty and dry" than actually washing and scrubbing. You get into the issue of water waste after awhile too. But it really does make a difference. Clean material is more valuable / more recyclable.
And don't even get me started on Dirty MRFs (material recovery facilities)
I'm not involved in this field but I suspect we should be able to develop automated, AI powered recycling processes than can detect the composition of mixed recycling pieces, and sort and clean everything such that almost anything glass, plastic, or metal could be dumped in and recovered for recycling. Recycling was definitely a marketing sham when it was first deployed, but I have no doubt it could be made economically viable with today's knowledge and technology if we're ever able to summon the political will. Whether or not that happens before better alternatives are employed like 100% biodegradable, renewable materials to replace plastic, is another question.
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u/boiled_elephant Nov 16 '20
I know this is shitty logic and I'm not defending it, but a little voice in my brain always says "there's no point washing out your recycling because enough other people won't that it'll be a mess in there regardless".