What's wrong with recycling in Calgary

I spent part of the day Sunday at Calgary's Folk Fest. I was helping out with the CivicCamp booth. I met some amazing people and learned a few things about grassroots civic initiatives happening in this city.

A phenomenon I was rather proud of at the Fest was the very obvious recycling initiative going on. Not only were they trying to recycle everything on the grounds, but there were guides to assist you with where to put everything.

One small snag - as I was recycling my Tim Horton's paper coffee cup (yes, there was a Tim Horton's booth in the food area), I was told they could not recycle the plastic lid which is clearly marked with a recycle symbol. When I asked why, they told me that the city would not accept items for recycling that had not been rinsed and they had no facility to rinse cup lids on site.

Seriously.