Is it safe to wash meat packaging before throwing it away?

Question

Is it recommended to wash plastic packaging for raw meat before disposing of it? I see advice to just rinse it with soap in the sink to prevent the bin from smelling.
However, I also see it is usually not recommended to wash raw meat as there is a risk of cross contamination - wouldn't the same risk be here as well?
Clarification: I mean before throwing it into bin for landfill

Willeke · Accepted Answer

Rinsing or washing the container is no worse than rinsing or washing a plate on which you have let your meat rest. But do it when you take your meat out, not a couple of hours later, to avoid spoilage starting.
If you send yours to landfill, cleaning it is for your comfort.
Where and when I grew up we would never bother, but we did accept that bins smell of spoiled food. If you want to keep your bin from smelling you may want to clean it.

Anastasia Zendaya · Answer

Disclaimer: The question got edited into something completely different.
You know those large garbage bins used on garbage day? Though plenty of people use only garbage bags, at my household we have our regular sized garbage cans in our house, and those large garbage bins out beside our house.
Every time we have a meat container (be it a Styrofoam plate, plastic packaging, etc.) to dispose, we go outside and dump it into that large garbage bin. Applies to bad weather too.

eps · Answer

Immediately throw it in your normal trash. Absolutely don't rinse it, that's a great way to spread contamination everywhere. Smell has never been a problem for me as I have a covered garbage can in the kitchen and regularly move the garbage to the trash collection point outside.

Answered by eps on August 11, 2021

John · Answer

I have a "reframing" approach that may work for people with large (but not full) freezers: I keep a plastic container in the freezer, and put any "likely to be smelly" trash --- things like shrimp-shells, meat-packaging, etc. --- into that container and close the top. This largely delays rotting, so it does not matter whether you wash the packaging or not. On trash day, I empty the container into the trash before taking the trash out of the house.
I'm embarrassed to say that it took me more than 35 years of adult life to think of this, but it sure works well!

Is it safe to wash meat packaging before throwing it away?

4 Answers

Disclaimer: The question got edited into something completely different.

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