We had such a great time getting out to our councils and towns for our Recycling Roadshow, but if you didn’t have the chance to catch up with us we thought we would highlight a few items we see in the yellow lidded recycling bin that can be recycled if they are taken to the right place, however they can cause real headaches for our recyclers if you put them in the yellow recycling bin. 

Gas bottles and batteries of any type are dangerous and do not belong in any kerbside bin and can cause explosions and fires in collection trucks and at the landfill.  Plus they are easy to recycle at your local transfer station.

Fabrics can also cause machinery to become tangled but did you know clean and dry fabrics can have many uses?

Linen can be useful for tradies and renovators as paint sheets or rags, old towels can be cut into squares and make excellent household cloths or replace paper towel use (cotton towels are super absorbent!).  A quick zig-zag stitch or overlock around the edges will stop fraying – think of the savings in paper towel use.  If you aren’t a sewer there are a number of businesses selling these types of products locally now. 

Some pet rescue centres and vets do require clean towels from time to time so reach out to your local centre to see if they require any of these items

Local Boomerang Bags groups have literally saved tonnes of fabric going to landfill as they make reusable shopping bags out of donated fabrics like old curtains.  Check out the groups for more information.

It’s easy to remember what should be in your recycling bin – any household rigid packaging that held food or toiletries – and they really only fall into 6 categories.  Cardboard, Paper, Hard Plastic containers (think shampoo bottle and yoghurt pot, Glass bottles and jars, Aluminium packaging and steel cans.  Everything else can either be recycled at your local centre (gas bottles, metals, polystyrene, tyres, ewaste and batteries) RedCycle for soft plastics or should be in general waste.