Bagged recycling cannot be separated and sorted for recycling and often goes to waste.
There simply isn’t time, or manpower, to open and empty the bags. There is also a safety hazard for employees in doing this due to needles and other contaminants that may be inside the bags.
Please place recyclable items into the recycle bin loosely, so they can be sorted and recycled easily.
Plastic bags as well as strapping, hoses, string and rope wrap and tangle around machinery at the materials recycling facility (MRF). This prevents the machinery from working effectively. The machines then need to be stopped and cleared of the materials wrapped around them. During this time, materials cannot be processed for recycling which wastes time and money.
Watch this video, and you’ll never try to recycle a plastic bag in your recycle bin again:
video by ‘Block Club Chicago’
Plastic bags and other soft plastic wrapping also causes problems by getting caught in the paper and cardboard stream. This causes contamination and reduces the value and recyclability of the paper and cardboard.
So please leave plastic bags and soft plastics out.
Which bin?
Plastic bags and other soft plastics can be placed in the REDcycle bins found at Coles and Woolworths. The soft plastics are recycled and made into outdoor furniture, bollards and board walks.
Compostable bags which are made from corn-starch or PLA should be placed in your green lidded food and garden organics/FOGO bin. These bags are mostly light green in colour and supplied through your local Council to use in your kitchen caddy/biobasket for collecting food scraps and other organic kitchen materials. Compostable bags are not to be confused with biodegradable bags click here to find out the difference.
Biodegradable plastic bags should be placed in your general waste to landfill bin.
Avoid, Reduce, Re-use:
Avoid having to purchase and use plastic bags by using re-usable shopping bags made from jute, bamboo,
cotton or PET.
Tip: Store your re-usable enviro bags in your car so that you don’t forget them on your next visit to the shops. If you forget your bags, ask for a cardboard box to store your items in at the supermarket.