Man of Honour
As for washing your recyclables with hot water, I'm pretty sure a quick rinse with cold water will suffice, they don't have to be clean enough to use again straight out of your recycling bin
Actually, yes you do - in the areas that collect them. From what I've been told by family, Uttlesford District Council insist on plastic being clean.
Anyway, Veolia are very well known around these parts for these tricks. The usual excuses are either that they don't have enough recycling trucks or their trucks are too big to gain access.
It's all about image really. If they were up-front and say what they do and why, then there probably wouldn't be a problem. But oh no, they have to pull this sort of stunt and then wonder why residents get all antsy over it. In any event, they sort recycling at the depot so splitting recycling at the kerbside is probably just a convenience (e.g. it might help them weed out stuff that can't be recycled, particularly among plastics).