I've never before heard anyone ever suggest that we're "supposed to" be sorting and washing our trash at home. What an unbelievably wasteful and pointless notion.
They also have the most over-packaged goods I have ever seen, individually wrapped sweets, cakes etc wrapped in a plastic box and given to you in a plastic bag (3 layers!) not being unusual. (There is now finally a plastic bag charge introduced last year.)
* Empty, Clean, and Dry
* When in Doubt, Find Out
* Keep Bags Out
https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/collection-a...
Here's an online tool to help people identify the various kinds of recyclables and direct them correctly. It isn't easy and I doubt few Seattle residents know all of these.
https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/collection-a...
If everyone started sorting and cleaning according to these rules the fraction of usable recyclables would increase a lot.
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/21/987111675/video-is-recycling-...
How many hours have we (as a species) wasted sorting and meticulously managing our waste when the vast majority of it never gets recycled anyway? I'm asking the question as someone who cares deeply about the environment. I just think recycling is a fake solution invented by the plastic industry to alleviate the consumer guilt that comes with purchasing single-use plastics. If you don't like a bunch of waste in your landfills, buy fewer single-use products. The vast majority of what goes into the bin never gets recycled anyway.
You'll often see "rinse and replace cap" (some plastic bottles, some say toss the cap) or "rinse and insert lid" (metal cans).
I do feel like it's probably inefficient. I'm told not to rinse dishes because my dishwasher is better (which mine definitely is) but... I'm supposed to hand rinse garbage before recycling it?