While we should all be aiming for a ‘zero waste’ home, the way that we use our home recycle bins has a large contribution to our impact on the planet. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about recycling, and this leads to a decrease in the efficiency of our national recycle effort.
Each week, we put bins out the front of our house and the contents are taken away, never to be seen again. Many leave it at that, but have you ever stopped to wonder about what happens to your recyclable items once they leave your kerbside? Where do they go? What happens to them? For many, the knowledge surrounding recycle bins is limited to when it should be placed on the kerb, but for those conscious about reducing impact, how well you recycle is important.
Initially, once the contents leave your kerbside it is taken to a recycling plant known as an MRF (Material Recovery Facility) and everything from the truck is emptied onto a conveyor belt. At this point workers remove contaminants from the belt before the process is continued.
If there is a gross contamination to the goods this is removed before the process is continued. Even if one house from the entire truckload contains contaminated recyclables, this can, in some cases, lead to the entire load being un-recyclable, meaning it will go straight to landfill.
Following the removal of contaminations, the items are screened in several different ways before they are grouped together and sent away to be manufactured into new materials and goods. The process is intricate, and there are many things done by the public that affect the quality of recycled items.
There are a variety of common mistakes when it comes to recycling, these are the top three:
1. Putting plastic bags and soft plastics in the recycle bin.
First of all, the use of plastics bags is completely unnecessary, if you are still using them you should consider the switch to reusable bags. But if for some reason you are still using them, if you put recycled items into plastic bags, they will end up going straight to landfill. The conveyor belt at recycling plants are manned by humans, and they simply don’t have the time to take items out of the bags.
Soft plastics, which include plastics from bread packets, cannot be put into recycle bins because they get stuck in the belts. However, these items are recyclable! REDcycle (which offer recycle bins that can be found in select Coles and Woolworths stores) allow you to drop off your soft plastics. There is a long list of items that can be placed in these bins, but the main soft plastics items that be recycled (those that can be scrunched into a ball really) are bread bags, chocolate wrappers, and chip bags to name a few.
2. Putting recyclable items into the garbage bin.
The items simply go straight to landfill. Do your due diligence. Be conscious. Think. And if you are the eco-conscious one in a shared household, remind your housemates about the importance of recycling and teach them how to make best use of the recycle bin.
3. Food and residue contamination.
Many people don’t wash out their items and this causes large problems at recycling plants. If you leave milk in the bottom of the carton this will end up spreading to other items. Contaminated items that end up being reused reduce the quality of recycled products. Before putting items into the bin, rinse them out and remove the lid.
Another common recycling problem is that many people aren’t sure what they can and cannot recycle.
As a general rule, the following items are acceptable:
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- Cardboard including newspapers, paper, magazines
- Glass bottles and jars
- Plastic containers ie. milk, ice-cream, margarine and yoghurt.
- Aluminium ie. soft drink cans and foil trays, and steel cans.
But, with any rule, there are exceptions and each item should be checked to make sure it is recyclable. Often there is an icon on the packaging – a triangular arrow with a number at its centre – which indicates whether or not it is suitable and then it must be crossed off with your local council to confirm whether that type of plastic is in fact an item accepted for kerbside recycling. If there is no icon, a quick Google search is also a good way to find out.
There are items that people think are recyclable, but actually aren’t. Make sure you don’t recycle the following items:
No matter how pretty, takeaway coffee cups are disposable and cannot be recycled.
1. Takeaway coffee cups.
If you are still using disposable coffee cups and haven’t yet transitioned to a Keep Cup or similar, you really should consider making the change. Takeaway cups have a thin layer of plastic on the inside, used to keep the drink warm – (gross) – and for this reason they can’t be recycled.
2. Takeaway paper containers.
When eating out, consider dining in and requesting a plate as they are washed up instead of being thrown out. Avoid takeaways options where waste is inevitable ie. McDonalds, KFC etc where excessive paper and cardboard materials are used. Grease and food particles present in these containers contaminate the other materials that are going to be recycled.
3. Styrofoam.
First of all, this material should be avoided at all costs. Not only is it non-recyclable but it does not biodegrade. This material is usually used to make cups, packing peanuts, and some food containers.
4. Napkins / Paper Towels:
If you are still using disposable napkins and paper towels, you really should consider making the change to fabric ones that can be reused. These items are considered too contaminated to recycle.
5. Certain glass items.
As said above, glass jars can be recycled. But there are other types of glass that can’t be, and these are classified as glass items with higher melting points. Common glass items that may not be recycled are Pyrex baking dishes, light bulbs, window glass, eyeglasses, glass art. Check with your municipality if they accept these items for recycling.
6. Cardboard milk containers (some).
These are the containers that many long-life milks from the traditional supermarket come in. While they are mostly made from paper, similar to takeaway coffee cups, they generally have an ultra-thin plastic coating of low-density polyethylene on the inside which means they can’t be recycled.
7. Shredded paper.
Due to its fine nature it causes difficulty at the recycling plant and can potentially clog the machinery. Instead, this can be added to a compost pile or used for other office purposes.
10 key takeaways about recycling:
- Never put your recyclable items in plastic bags, they will end up in landfill.
- Avoid contamination; always rinse items and remove lids from bottles, and jars. In some cases, if a whole load of recyclables is contained the items will end up in landfill.
- Takeaway coffee cups cannot be recycled, invest in a reusable coffee cup.
- Always recycle empty deodorant cans.
- Research your nearest REDcycle bin (at Coles and Woolworths store) and drop of your soft plastics when you do your groceries.
- Never put e-waste (printer cartridges, mobile phones, batteries, televisions, computers and appliances) into household bins, find a suitable drop-off location.
- Never put garden waste into the recycle bin.
- Don’t put nappies into recycle bins – (gross) – yet 11 percent of people believe that they are recyclable which is why I make mention of it.
- Make a habit of double checking your recyclables before putting them into the bin and checking in with your housemates to ensure you’re all on the same page.
- If you aren’t sure on a particular item, perform a quick Google search or check with your local municipality.
Aside from traditional recycling of used packaging, there is also an abundance of second life options for many used goods that you have lying around the house. Instead of sending items straight to landfill research on the internet to find if your item could have a second life.
While it’s important to recycle, it is more important to make sure you are putting the correct items into the correct bins. Recycling is extremely important for the environment, and doing your part to make sure you are recycling as effectively as possible is crucial.
