Recycle right

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Tuesday, 18 October 2022

Recycle right

Did you know that approximately 35% of your general household rubbish bin is made up of things that can be recycled? This means instead of being turned into something useful like park benches, back into plastic bottles or as a component of road mix, they are going into landfill and can take somewhere between 20 and 500 years to fully break down.

Working out what can and can’t be recycled is confusing.

Here are a few tips about what can go into your recycling bin and some common mistakes people make.

YES items

Empty milk & juice cartons (lids off)
Empty glass bottles & jars (lids off)
Empty, plastic food containers & tubs
Cardboard packaging, (no wax lining or thin plastic coating)
Egg cartons, clean pizza boxes (no food or excess grease)
Empty cans/aerosols (steel or aluminium)
Aluminum foil, pie trays (a bit of food left on them is fine)
Metal pots & pans (no glass lids)
Papers, envelopes, junk mail, flyers, brochures, newspapers, magazines, tissue boxes

NO items

Coffee cups
Nappies
e-Waste (including household electrical products such as toaster, kettle, TV)
Polystyrene
Soft plastic bags
Paper towel or tissues
Clothes, linen or shoes
Waxed cardboard, plastic bags, cling wrap or soft plastics (including those labelled as recyclable, compostable or biodegradable)
Crockery, drinking glasses, mirrors, or Pyrex dishes
Light globes

However, if you’re not 100% sure whether to recycle, it is best to leave it out rather than risk contaminating the recycling stream.

For more information about how you can recycle right, visit our website, knox.vic.gov.au

Recycle right

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