Recycling glass & plastics

For effective recycling, all jars and bottles need to be empty and dry, rinsing containers is not a must-do for recycling. Remove lids or caps, but no need to remove paper labels.

Here is a quick guide to the types of glass that CAN be placed in your recycling bin:

• Beer bottle (green, amber and clear glass bottles)
• Wine bottles (green, amber and clear glass bottles)
• Soft drink bottles
• Sauce bottles
• Jars.

Here is a quick guide to the types of glass that CANNOT be placed in your recycling bin because they are toughened glass and melt at a higher temperature than normal glass bottles and jars:

• Drinking glasses
• Mirrors
• Ceramics
• Plate glass
• Frosted glass
• Window or windscreen glass
• Oven-proof or heat-treated glass (pyrex)
• Light globes
• Medical glass.

Any plastic container that is rigid can be recycled. A handy tip for deciding if the container is ‘rigid’ is if it:

• Holds its shape when crumpled, and/or
• Would hold liquid.

For effective recycling, all containers need to be empty and dry, rinsing containers is not a must-do for recycling.

Here is a quick guide to plastic containers that CAN be placed in your recycling bin:

• Carbonated soft drink bottles
• Detergent bottles
• Milk and cream bottles
• Shampoo bottles
• Cleaning bottles
• Clear cordial and juice bottles
• Squeeze bottles
• Ice cream containers and lids
• Plastic take away containers, sushi trays and coffee cup lids
• Yoghurt containers
• Margarine/butter containers
• Fruit punnets and biscuit trays
• Toys, buckets, plant pots and storage containers
• CD and DVD covers only.

Loose plastic lids and other small pieces of rigid plastic, such as cable ties can be placed in a rinsed plastic bottle. When the bottle is full, just screw on a lid and pop the full bottle in the recycling bin. This will be recycled as a mixed plastic. Leaving them loose in your recycling bin means they are often too small to be captured when sorted.

This part can get a little tricky, a handy tip is to ask “Is the plastic soft, easily wrapped or squish-able in your hands?” If yes, it CANNOT be recycled in your Yellow Bin. 'Soft' plastics in this category include grocery shopping bags, cling-wrap, lightweight polystyrene meat trays and packing foam. 

Visit Which Bin to find out how to dispose of specific items.

Place soft plastic wrappers and bags in your waste bin.

Please do not place any soft wrap-able plastic packaging or bags in your yellow bin as they wrap, tangle and clog up sorting machinery and contaminate the paper and cardboard stream. 

Degradable describes where the ordinary plastics are treated with additives, usually consisting of heavy metals to cause the material to disintegrate over a number of years.  

Causes of the degradation: sunlight, time, water, chemicals, micro-organisms.

Time to degrade: varies, but generally a long time.

Biodegradable plastic bags are a specific type of degradable. But that still doesn’t mean they are ok to compost.

Causes of the degradation: mainly naturally occurring micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi.

Time to degrade: varies from days to months to years depending on the material and environment.

Compostable bags are a specific type of biodegradable that:

• are made from 100% compostable materials (cornstarch, vegetable oil and a compostable polyester) that need to be certified to Australian Standard AS4736-2006.
• break down at the same rate as paper
• looks like compost when fully broken down
• do not leave a toxic residue 
• should be able to support plant life.