Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Examples (all items must be empty & clean)

Hard rigid plastic bottles & containers

Yogurt tubs, milk bottles, margarine tubs

Strawberry punnets, rigid biscuit trays, juice bottles, peanut butter jars

Clear & clean meat trays (black trays are not picked up by the machinery)

Shampoo bottles, laundry liquids containers

Glass jars & bottles

Pasta sauce bottles, stir fry sauce jars

Steel cans

Tomato tins, corn tins, bean tins

Aluminium cans

Soft drink cans

Empty aerosol containers

Empty deodorant, air fresheners

Paper & Cardboard

Egg carton, newspaper, magazines, envelopes with plastic window, cardboard boxes (flattened)

Liquid paperboard (juice & milk cartons)

Empty long life milk cartons, plant-based milk cartons, poppers, juice cartons

Recycling Tip

Reason

Remove lids & place in rubbish bin

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

Lids are often too small to be recycled by themselves. The smallest size of a recyclable item is the size of your palm. If lid is smaller than palm place in rubbish bin, if lid is larger than can be placed in recycling bin separately.

Leaving lids on bottles and containers can cause explosions at the MRF when baled which is a hazard to the staff working.

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 rubbish bin. Tear off the pizza box lid and if it’s clean place that in the recycling bin.

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 too small will just fall through the cracks on the conveyer belt at the Material Recovery Facility and not be recycled.

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 and slow down operations.

Use the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) as a guide to help you recycle. This label is often found on packaging items in the supermarket and can assist in disposal methods.

Reason

Plastic bags

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

Including bagged recyclables. Do NOT place your recyclables in plastic bags, the staff at the Material Recovery Facility 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 will get caught in the machinery at the Material Recovery Facility.

Garden waste

This material is not recyclable at the Material Recovery Facility and will contaminate other items.

Food waste

This material is not recyclable at the Material Recovery Facility and will contaminate other items.

Polystyrene

This type of plastic is not recyclable at a Material Recovery Facility. Please dispose of in your rubbish bin or return to Styro Products Gympie for recycling.

Single use coffee cups

These items are not recyclable at Gympie’s Material Recovery Facility.

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 rubbish bin.

Please dispose of batteries at a safe collection point like Woolworths or Aldi.

General waste items

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