To clean or not to clean your recyclables?

Here is our happy little recycling drying area next to the sink.

I don't like to put icky or wet items in the recycling bin. Yes, it's icky and that's my official stance, however, there are some more concrete reasons... One: it makes my reusable shopping bags dirty and smelly. (This happened once.)

Two: It could potentially attract critters into our casa.

Three: I often reuse my cans and jars for crafty things!

There has been some controversy about whether or not to use up all that water to rinse/wash items out.

I agree with this, so I try to limit the amount of water I use, but it really isn't the best solution - unfortunately, I don't know what is! 

Some recycling centers do prefer that you rinse out items first, to prevent odor, rot, and mold; also, contamination.

If you put all your recycling together in one bin, then that is called "Single-stream Recycling" and there is a potential that liquids or other eewy-gooeys can leak out onto the paper goods, causing the paper to be sent to a landfill, instead of recycling. (kind of defeats the whole purpose, right!?)

You can always call your recycling center and find out what their process is and if they recommend rinsing or not.

One website I found while researching suggested running recyclables through the dishwasher if you have one, but I probably wouldn't do this myself. 

I feel like there's a happy balance somewhere between the use of water and electricity to clean items for recycling and the value of recycling and reusing. The point is to not just throw an open, half used gallon of milk in the recycling bin.

I think the best thing is to simply be conscious of what we are using and do what we can to conserve where we can. (And by "we," I also mean ME, too!) 

Every little bit counts! :)

Any thoughts? Tips? Comments?

 

Here is a great link I found for environmental and energy news:

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/

**UPDATE**  
After posting I searched for info about dishwashing vs. handwashing. Turns out that [depending on your dishwasher] you can actually save a lot of water & energy by using the dishwasher versus handwashing.  
Sooo I guess it may be prudent to throw recycling in the dishwasher after all... (if, in fact, it needed to be really scrubbed out) See info here: Energy Star Handwashing vs. Dishwasher