Did you know that every type of plastic is fully recyclable?
And at least 20 per cent of what is in our garbage bins right now should be in our recycle bins, according to Planet Ark’s Brad Gray.
However it is important to know and understand not all items can be recycled in this way.
The most common recycling mistake is throwing in soft plastics such as plastic bags, food packaging or any “scrunchable” plastic in with the rest of your plastic containers.
“[Soft plastics] are the number one form of contamination in the recycling system,” Mr Gray said.
“The systems aren’t designed to pick them out so they literally get caught in the conveyer belt and the whole recycling system has to be stopped so they can get them out, or after every shift people go to the machines to cut them out.”
Mr Gray’s biggest tip was to check with your local council about what they accepted, as each area has different recycling systems and sorting processes after your bins are collected.
What can be put in your kerbside recycle bin?
All plastic containers can be recycled including plastic fruit punnets and takeaway containers.
Plastic trays such as meat trays or soft food trays differ across councils.
Rigid hard plastic trays can be recycled while soft polystyrene trays cannot, which means many councils say no to both.
All plastic drink bottles can go in the recycle bins, although Planet Ark recommends people remove the lids from bottles and put them in the garbage.
Bottle lids are too small to be picked up by the factory sorting machines.
“If you leave the lid on, chances are some liquid will remain inside and because many of the sorting machines use air to sort the items, any liquid left inside can weigh them down,” Mr Gray said.