Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Material accepted

Examples (all items must be empty & clean)

Hard rigid plastic bottles & containers

Yogurt tubs                    Milk bottles

Margarine tubs              Strawberry punnets

Rigid biscuit trays          Peanut butter jars

Ice cream tub                Clear meat trays

Shampoo bottles           Laundry liquid containers

Glass jars & bottles

Pasta sauce bottles         Stir fry sauce jars

Jam jars                           Spread jars

Steel, aluminium cans & empty aerosol cans

Tomato tins                     Corn tins

Bean tins                         Coffee tin

Soft drink cans                Empty deodorant can

Empty air freshener       Empty hair spray can

Clean aluminium foil (must be scrunched into a ball the size of your fist)

Paper & Cardboard

Egg carton                       Newspaper

Magazines                       Envelopes

Junk mail                         Cereal box

Clean pizza box              Cardboard boxes (flattened)

Liquid paperboard (juice & milk cartons)

Long life milk cartons         Plant-based milk cartons

Poppers                              Juice cartons

Recycling Tip

Reason

Size is important

The size of your palm is the minimum size of an item that can be recycled in the yellow lid-recycling bin.

Items that are smaller than your palm will fall through the cracks on the conveyer belt at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and not be recycled.

Remove lids 

Lids can be made from a different material than the base and can’t be recycled attached.

Lids are often too small to be recycled by themselves. If lid is smaller than palm place in waste bin, if lid is larger than can be placed in recycling bin separately.

Keep it clean

All recyclables must be empty of food or other remnants.

Leaving food inside can reduce the quality of the material when it’s recycled. Eg: greasy pizza box. If there is cheese and oil attached to the base, unfortunately it must go in the waste bin. Tear off the pizza box lid and if it’s clean place that in the recycling bin.

Keep it loose

Don’t bag your recycling. Plastic bags and other soft plastics can’t go in the yellow lid recycling bin, they get tangled at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and slow down operations.

Use the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) as a guide to help you recycle.

The Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) is often found on packaging items in the supermarket and can assist in disposal methods.

Material

Reason

Plastic bags

Plastic bags will get caught in the machinery at the Material Recovery Facility.

Do NOT place your recyclables in plastic bags, the staff at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) do not have the time to open the bag and sort the recyclables, this will end up in landfill.

Soft plastics (chips & lolly wrappers)

Soft plastics are not recyclable in the yellow lid recycling bin. These items will get caught in the machinery at the MRF.

Garden waste

This material is not recyclable at the MRF and will contaminate other items.

Try composting your garden waste at home instead.

Food waste

This material is not recyclable at the MRF and will contaminate other items.

Put your food waste in a compost or worm farm instead.

Polystyrene

This type of plastic is not recyclable at a MRF. Please dispose of in your waste bin or return to Styro Products Gympie for recycling.

Single use coffee cups

These items are not recyclable in the yellow lid recycling bin.

Batteries

Due to the hazardous and corrosive nature of batteries, these items can start fires in the back of rubbish trucks and should NOT be placed in either the yellow lid recycling bin or waste bin.

Please dispose of batteries at a safe collection point, including:

Aldi

Bunnings

Mitre 10

Woolworths

Any Waste Management Facility.

General waste items

Only certain materials (hard rigid plastics, steel, aluminium, glass, paper, and cardboard) are recyclable in the yellow lid bin. Therefore, all other waste goes in the waste bin.