National Recycling Week, 9-11 November 2020

Need help with recycling while at home? 

While we’re all spending time at home, like many people you are probably cooking more, ordering things online and receiving more deliveries than usual. This means you’re also probably ending up with a lot more waste than you normally have. 

If you’re also like a lot of people, you might find yourself and members of your household wondering which is the right bin to put everything in. 

If that’s you and you need some help, here are some tips to help you save time and sort the most common items that leave people scratching their heads. 

First of all, always remember to keep your recycling out of plastic bags and place your recyclables in your bin loosely. Use a bucket or reusable bag to carry your recycling to the bin or chute.

  • Soft plastics like bread and pasta bags and plastic bags – go into the garbage bin. Do the scrunch test – if you can scrunch the plastics in your hand, they don’t go in the recycling bin. 
  • Polystyrene foam – goes into the garbage bin (not in the chute)
  • Clothing and shoes – don’t go in the recycling bin. Please donate quality items to charity.
  • Food waste – bag it and put it in your garbage bin. City Of Melbourne offers discounts on home composting products at compostrevolution.com.au

As well as following these simple rules, you can search for specific items to find out which bin they belong in by visiting recycling.vic.gov.au. Get to know your recycling because what you do makes a difference. 

Remember to check the City Of Melbourne waste and recycling website at melbourne.vic.gov.au for the latest information in case anything changes while we’re all spending our time at home.

Please speak to your building manager if you have large items to dispose of.

Happy recycling!

Ian – Recycling Officer

City of Melbourne

We are using the Sustainability Victoria recycling education campaign material. Feel free to share this link https://www.recycling.vic.gov.au/