Confused About Recycling? We’ve Made It Easy For You

It’s not easy being green. Around 49 per cent of Australian’s aren’t clued up on what they can send to the recycling office, or left at the kerb. However, there are simple ways to find out what you can throw out, or where it can go.

1. Visit your council website. In Victoria alone, just 29 per cent of households visit their council resources to check what can be recycled. Educate yourself by visiting your local council’s guidelines, or look here to see where you need to get rid of your waste.

2. Set up recycling stations at home or the office. It can be tempting to just throw everything in together, promising that you’ll sort out the rubbish later. But, as more than ten per cent of kerbside rubbish contains unviable products, it seems that most of us don’t get around to it. Consider buying a Zero Waste Box, or separate bins for straightforward rubbish, recyclable material, and food waste. Remember, your food scraps can be turned into compost, then used to fertilise your plants.

3. Clean your waste. Rinse and clean your food containers as thoroughly as possible so that any leftovers don’t leak onto other containers or bottles. For example, pizza boxes are made of cardboard, but the grease from the pizza is a contaminant and cannot be separated from the paper fibres during the pulping process. This could lead to an entire batch of reusable paper being thrown into landfill.

4. Remember the ‘scrunch’ rule. If it’s soft plastic and can be scrunched into a ball, it can be placed into a recycled receptacle. If you can’t scrunch it up, then it can’t be recycled, and may need to be collected from the kerb, or through other collection programs.

5. Use your recycling to make money for others. New innovative programs like TerraCycle are allowing everyday consumer to send in their empty products, including packaging from popular beauty brands like Burt’s Bees, to earn money that you can donate to charities all free of charge. By doing so, you’ll earn $1 for every kilogram sent, which is then donated to a school or charity of your choice.