As part of National Recycling Week, which runs from Monday, 9 to Sunday, 15 November, Bass Coast Shire Council is encouraging everyone to keep rethinking, reducing, reusing and recycling.
Rethinking our approach to waste means we need to actively reduce the amount of waste we generate in the first place. Reusing items wherever possible and avoiding single use and disposable products and recycling everything that we can is key to making us more sustainable. Knowing what can and can’t go into our kerbside recycling bins helps to maximise our recycling efforts.
More than 5,000 tonnes of recycling was collected through Council’s kerbside recycling bins in the 2019/20 year, with a consistently low level of contamination that our community should be proud of. But there is still room to improve!
Audits of Bass Coast’s kerbside bins show that there are some things we can do to improve our recycling efforts.
Soft Plastics – bread bags, biscuit packet wrappers, chip packets and plastic bags can all be recycled at REDcycle drop off points at participating supermarkets. Soft plastics never belong in your kerbside recycling bin. If you can scrunch it, don’t bin it.
Keep your recyclables loose – recyclables need to go in your kerbside bin loose so they can be sorted and recycled correctly. If you put your recyclables in a plastic bag and then into your recycling bin, it is considered contamination and will be sent to landfill.
Batteries – batteries can be recycled – but not in your kerbside recycling bin. Take them to one of Council’s waste facilities for free, or alternatively drop them at your nearest ALDI supermarket. Batteries placed in kerbside bins cause fires – never put batteries in your bin.
Polystyrene – this can be a confusing one, because there is often a recycling symbol on polystyrene packaging and products. However, polystyrene of any kind is not accepted in your kerbside recycling bin.
Disposable Coffee cups- flip your lid! The robust plastic lid found on disposable coffee cups can be recycled – but the cup itself needs to go in your general waste (red) bin – these cups can’t be recycled. Please also note that cups marked ‘compostable’ are not accepted in Bass Coast’s organics bins. Always separate your disposable cup and lid – recycle the lid, cup to landfill.
