Some areas require your recyclables to be clean. I used to live in the NY suburbs, and if even the slightest trace of food or residue was found on your recyclables, the guys on the trucks would throw the offending item back on your lawn - where it would usually blow into neighbor's yards, and generally cause a big mess. I was a renter, and my landlord would get very upset if my recyclables ended up on her lawn. I heard that some people were fined for putting dirty items in the recycling.

I found it impossible to clean most items to their satisfaction. A quick rinse wasn't enough. Shampoo bottled had to be scrubbed with a brush, I had to use a knife to get the last bit of tomato paste out of the bottom of the can, glass bottles had to be washed with soap. I was using so much water to clean my recycling that it didn't seem like I was saving any energy. I ended up throwing most of my items in the trash, if I couldn't get them perfectly clean. It really turned me off of recycling - it seemed so pointless.

Karen

In your case, with such extreme examples of intolerance for contamination, I would say you are right; it was pointless. I imagine it would be impossible to have a favorable ecologic footprint for such such a recycling program. Even if no hot water were used in cleaning, the amount of energy used to process tap water would negate most of the advantage of recycling to begin with. I hate to say it, but in your case, tossing it in the landfill was the best of all actions.

Luckily, things are different now, at least in Phoenix, AZ.

This isn't worth your time!

Stop the insanity.

Recycle the paper and cardboard (no pizza boxes please - those have to be picked out BY HAND), and focus on the other, more important, R's - Reduce and Reuse.

You have a clean freak running your local plant. Kind of funny when their job is to deal with waste!

This is coming from someone who worked in recycling for years.