Some of us have enough trouble just remembering which colour-coded bin goes out on what night – let alone managing the contents to ensure we are putting the right items in the right bin for recycling. And we rarely stop to think what happens next with our waste once its ‘bin and gone’.
Each household on the Northern Beaches puts on average 7.1 kgs of rubbish into their red bins each week. But 10 percent of this could in fact be recycled in the blue or yellow bin. Equally, many items that end up in recycling bins, cannot be recycled.
In 2023/24, 61 percent of domestic waste was recycled or diverted from landfill. Now Northern Beaches Council has set an ambitious target to increase the resource recovery rate to 70 percent by 2030.
There’s also a plan to pilot a food organics collection – the NSW government is proposing to mandate food and garden waste collections from all NSW households, from 2030. Council will initiate a food organics collection pilot before rolling out across the local government area. This phased approach will help ensure long term sustainable outcomes for organics collection for our community.
Right now recycling and resource recovery is the key to a more sustainable future.
So cue a new campaign by the Council to make sure we ‘Bin it right’ – to help us all take the guesswork out of recycling our rubbish to be better binners.
The Bin it right campaign provides simple tips and tricks to make using household bins easier than ever. It’s about refreshing our bin habits to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill.
Every little bit we do right on bin night each week makes a huge difference in keeping the Beaches such a beautiful place to live, work and play in.
Visit their website or follow their socials for info, videos, tips and lists to help you up refresh your bin habits.
(And make sure you read this article to the end to find out how you could win a deluxe waste sorting bin.)
It’s easy to separate recycling and keep it out of landfill when you know exactly what waste should go into each of your colour-coded bins – so here’s a helpful guide.
Recyclables and waste destined for landfill must be placed in the colour-coded bins – any extra bagged or bundled waste, vegetation, recyclables or paper and cardboard left beside bins will not be collected.
There’s no place in any of the household bins for for items such as batteries, chemicals, polystyrene, mobile phones or X-rays.
RED BINS
For general household garbage that can’t be recycled, including used nappies, wax-coated cardboard or food soiled paper, plastic bags, cling wrap, polystyrene and broken ceramics.
Bag lightweight waste like sawdust, dust or ash or seal it in a container so it can’t blow around.
No building materials, liquids or hazardous waste.
YELLOW BINS
All containers (plastic, metal and carton), glass bottles and jars from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry, clear meat trays (no styrofoam), fruit punnets, even without recycling symbols. Lids can be recycled if they are plastic, steel or aluminium. Keep them screwed onto the top of the container so they don’t get lost in the recycling process.
Aerosol cans can be safely recycled if they are completely empty and intact. No need to remove the plastic spray nozzle. If not empty they can be disposed of at the next Chemical CleanOut.
Aluminium foil can be added if rolled into a ball the size of a tennis ball to ensure it is recovered for recycling.
No plastic bags, cling wrap, polystyrene, ceramics, white glass (like Malibu bottles), flat glass, furniture or toys.
No soft scrunchable plastics such as bread, rice, pasta bags and cling wrap.
No small disposable gas canisters as they are in danger of explosion. These can be disposed at a Chemical CleanOut.
BLUE BINS
For clean paper and cardboard only, including glossy magazines and shredded paper.
Shredded paper should be contained in a box or a large paper bag. This will avoid spillage as the bin is emptied and will ensure the shredded paper is recycled and not lost during the recycling process.
Clean parts only of pizza boxes (a little grease is ok but no leftover food) can be recycled.
No wax-coated cardboard or soiled cardboard and paper. Put these in your red garbage bin.
Staples can be left in your paper or cardboard boxes but large labels and tape should be removed. And the plastic window doesn’t need to be removed from the window envelopes before adding to the blue bin. If you have a compost bin you can add small pieces and small amounts of food-soiled paper.
LIME GREEN BINS
For garden waste like leaves, branches less than 75mm thick, dead flowers, grass cuttings and other vegetation that can be mulched. No tree stumps, logs, trunks, soil, bricks, plant pots, tiles, stones or concrete. Christmas trees that have been chopped enough to be contained in the bin with the lid closed flat are accepted.
NO tree stumps, logs, trunks, soil, bricks, plant pots, tiles, stones or concrete.
Where does your waste go?
The materials you correctly place in your recycling bins are remanufactured or reused for a range of purposes, from new plastic, paper and metal packaging, mulch, soil improvers and constructioin materials.
WIN A DELUXE WASTE SORTING BIN!
To help you up your recycling game, try your luck in the giveaway of deluxe bathroom sorting bins.
Article sorted and sponsored in support of local news and better recycling.
