Recycling
The Problem
- Plastic bags
- Broken glassware or mirrors or glass from a photo frame
- Batteries
- Clothing and other textiles
- Food containers with food in them.
- Building materials, like pieces of timber or bricks
- Paper towels
What can you do?
List of Services
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Get the free app
Recycle Mate is a game-changer as it removes the recycling guesswork, no matter where you are in Australia! Just take a photo or type the name of an item you would like to know more about and Recycle Mate will give you disposal advice specific to your location
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Learn what your council accepts in your recycling bin.
Most councils have a website which will tell you what is accepted, and many bins list the materials that can be put in them.
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Cash in your cans through a Container Deposit SchemeList Item 1
Container deposit schemes provide a financial incentive to reduce litter, leading to cleaner beaches, waterways, parks and streets, and meaning fewer recyclable materials are sent to landfill. This provides the cleanest, highest value material for recycling and a source of cash for you or your school, sports group or charity. Only Tasmania and Victoria are yet to implement schemes - all other states & terrritories are operational,
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Recycle Aluminium Foil
Scrunch up your aluminium foil into the size of a small fist, then place it in the yellow recycling bin. Alternatively, you can put smaller pieces of foil into an aluminium can before placing it in the recycling bin. Place your foil trays and pie plates into the recycling bin loose.
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Battery Recycling
Australia has an official battery recycling scheme. Which means it's super easy to give your dead batteries new life.
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Mobile Phones & Electronics
Phones are incredibly easy to recycle via Mobile Muster. Or to resell via Mazuma! Could you buy a reconditioned laptop? And remember to recycle your toner cartridges – you can drop off your used or empty laser and inkjet cartridges at all Officeworks stores.
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Purchase products that include the Australasian Recyling Label
This easy to read label provides clarity about what packaging can be recycled and tells you where to put each element of the packaging. It removes confusion, saves you time and reduces waste going to landfill.
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Clothing & Textiles
Return good quality items to charity stores and remember that some clothing manufacturers run take-back programs. Buy vintage, use online exchanges or resale platforms and participate in organised clothes-swap ‘swishing events’.
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Before placing items in the bins
Don’t bag or tie your recyclables, just keep them loose. Flatten cardboard but do not squash bottles or cans. Rinse containers - small amounts of food don’t interfere with the glass and steel recycling process – just scrape all the solid food scraps out of jars and cans and give your bottles and containers a rinse (soap is unnecessary) to remove excess debris. .
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Stay up-to-date and look beyond your kerbside bin
We can now recycle tennis balls, thongs, blisterpacks, coffee cups, plant pots, computer keyboards and seedling trays - but none of these things can go in your kerbside bin.
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How Will You Step Up?
We're calling on you to Step Up and make a pledge towards reducing your waste contribution! Could you Step Up by saying no to straws? To bringing your own waterbottle? To composting? To buying recycled, to choosing not to buy fast fashion or refusing to purchase fruit and vegetables pre-wrapped in plastic? There are so many ways to Step Up! And thousands of small steps will make a big difference! Together we can all be part of the solution.