With so many bins, and ever more complex packaging, recycling in Australia can be complicated and confusing. Here’s what not to do
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Australians consider themselves good recyclers. But while more than 90% say recycling is important, many admit to doing it wrong.
About half have engaged in well intentioned “wish-cycling” at some point, according to Cleanaway’s recycling behaviours survey, such as popping soft plastics in the recycling bin and hoping for the best.
That’s just one of the common mistakes that can contaminate an entire recycling batch, risking the whole lot being sent to landfill.
Recycling plants receive, sort and prepare mixed materials such as metal tins, plastic containers, paper and cardboard – separating high-quality recyclables from unsuitable products.
But the system can fail when there’s too much or too many incorrect or non-recyclable items in the yellow bin.
“There certainly is a threshold for a waste management company to say ‘there’s too much in this’,” says Amelia Leavesley, an urban sustainability researcher at Melbourne Business School.
Take, for instance, one stray, unopened yoghurt container misplaced in the yellow bin.
“That yoghurt container explodes! Everything’s covered in this sticky white stuff, it’s probably gone mouldy by this point,” she says.
As contamination builds up, so too do the chances that a waste management company will decide to send the load to landfill, and the bill to council.
“Sometimes it’s so contaminated it just gets sent to landfill. The time and energy and effort to clean these individual products … is not worth it for the recycler,” says Leavesley.
There are some persistent problem items that wind up on recycling conveyer belts. Here’s a quick rundown of what usually goes where.
Soft plastics (ones you can scrunch into a ball), including plastic bags, are one of the biggest contamination culprits in kerbside recycling.
