To clean or not to clean those recyclables

I have always wondered whether this was a necessary step before putting something into the recycling bin.  Does it waste more water and the energy to get that water to my apartment than the energy that my recycling will save?  I did not know, but I figured that rinsing out my recyclables was the right thing to do for the people at the recycling center who had to go through my “trash.”  As it turns out, according to Slate’s “Green Lantern” column from 2/3/2009, I was both wrong and right.  No, you don’t really have to wash out those recyclables.  They wash them at the recycling facility before they are processed.  However, sometimes it will be months before that material gets processed.  So yes, washing out your recyclables helps keep the recycling facility a cleaner, more sanitary, less stinky place for those workers that have to inhabit the same space every day with your “trash.”