Oh, it’s definitely recyclable. But isn’t cleaning it out using up more energy, which adds to pollution?
Little containers use only a small amount of water to rinse. IMO, that is better than sending plastic to a landfill. Bigger containers, like the infamous PB jars - I stick them into the dishwasher with a regular load.
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I often squeeze the recyclable containers into the nooks and crannies in dishwasher. Since there are only two of us in the house, it seems an efficient way to do it. (We want to run it every few days, so it might as well be full.)
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I like this idea. We already leave him with some frozen meals of leftovers, but there’s honestly no reason we can’t do more and quite a variety, plus, I think he’d eat them if they were here, without worrying about the cost. He can still cook when he wants to, but it shouldn’t be the only thing he gets and we (or H) comes often enough that we can replenish frequently. Thanks!
Not for us. We’re on well water and use cold for rinsing. YMMV
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Two thoughts:
- wouldn’t you rinse it anyway before throwing it out? Maybe that’s just me
- at least you have the option of recycling. My area is very selective about what kind of plastics they’ll take, and I don’t think yogurt containers have ever been eligible. I guess they have to weigh the cost/benefit of what they can accept and actually recycle vs. what will end up in the landfill anyway.
“wouldn’t you rinse it anyway before throwing it out? Maybe that’s just me 
”
Perhaps not just you, but certainly it’s a limited subset of people (with even fewer rinsers in water-challenged communities).
If I were just tossing it in the trash, I wouldn’t rinse it out.
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We create little enough garbage these days that some weeks we don’t even fill a bag. So it could be in the garbage for an entire week before it goes out to the curb for pickup.
So we rinse most things just to keep the smell down.
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With just two of us, we only fill the kitchen pail/bag weekly. So it does get smelly, especially from the food waste (which of course you can’t rinse). So we use a lidded step-on can.
We just switched to a city garbage plan that includes a Composting can (and smaller garbage can, 48 gallons instead fo 96/jumbo). Not sure yet how we’ll rearrange things in the kitchen. The main goal was to deal with the yard waste. We’ve been running it to the local waste diversion center past few years to keep it out of the landfill, but this scheme will reduce the number of trips needed.
This is an interesting and fun question to ponder! The complexity of the answer probably warrants a phd thesis, but I’ll toss out some very rough numbers…
10g cup - 1400 kJ to make from raw material (4 cents for electricity where I live)
10g cup - 933 kJ to make from recycled material (2.67 cents; EPA: Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials.)
So, does washing the cup negate the 4 - 2.67 = 1.33 cent savings?
1 quart of water for washing (0.2 cents)
Water heated from 55 to 140 deg - 187 kJ (0.53 cents)
Total for washing: 0.73 cents
I would say, wash and recycle. 
And if the numbers are different in other areas of the country, I agree with others to recycle just for keeping it out of the landfill.
Also, I found where Chobani has moved to paper cups for an oatmeal/yogurt blend they make. I haven’t seen it at the store, though. Oikos Triple Zero is my choice. Hopefully they will follow suit.
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I don’t use hot water at all to rinse - I’m not cleaning or sterilizing it after all (and 140 is way too hot to heat your water, that’s burn territory).
And I wouldn’t use nearly a quart of water either for one yogurt cup.
The recycling here asks that cans and bottles be rinsed out, I assume it would apply to most things.
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@OhiBro: Thanks for that analysis. That’s helpful.
I love the idea that Chobani is using paper for some of its cups. They need to do it for all of their products!! as do all the other yogurt manufacturers.
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If anyone is curious, organic girl has a page devoted to recycling on it:
https://www.iloveorganicgirl.com/about/recycling-together/
and
https://www.iloveorganicgirl.com/about/recycling/
I’ll freely admit we buy theirs because it’s both good and they use 100% recycled plastic, but I have no personal stake in the company. We can also afford the extra cost, though even if I didn’t buy theirs, I would still buy organic greens due to the French study that came out showing much lower levels of cancer in those who ate them vs non-organic (one study - though large, not definitive - we just opt to go with best odds).
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I use my dog to clean out the yogurt cup. No need to rinse 
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My tortie cat is the best yogurt and sour cream container washer! 
Unfortunately, can’t give her containers from sweetened stuff, so those get rinsed.
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Remember sniglets? There was one called “barkuuming.” Not hard to figure out.
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There is that urban legend about a group of mountaineers staying in a base camp who were always too tired to wash their dishes after dinner but magically, the dishes would be clean the next morning. The dudes assumed that someone in the group took care of the dishes… until one night one of them got awaken by clinking noises and saw a bunch of dogs from the nearby alpine village licking the dishes clean.
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We were staying with a relative of my husband and after dinner they loaded all the dishes into the dishwasher. Then they left the door open and let the dog lick everything before they ran it. Ew and yuck, even though I acknowledge that the dishes would have been sanitized.
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Yes, agreed! Using less water and/or cold water makes the case in favor of recycling even stronger.
A follow-up note on Chobani’s paper cup. It will only be 80% paper, and include a plastic lining to maintain product quality, which will pose difficulty for recycling:
“ Innovative packaging often challenges the current recycling capabilities across the U.S. As part of our work in bringing this cup to market, we will continue collaborating with partners, including the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and policymakers to advocate for improvements that expand the recycling infrastructure in this country.” — Chobani press release
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