Let's get it sorted!

Getting our recycling and waste sorted is a great way to make a positive impact on our region and ensure a more sustainable future for generations to come.  

By following a few simple rules, you can help to conserve natural resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and decrease the need for new landfills.  

Top 5 recyclables

By remebering the top 5 recycling groups - we can make sure that no recyling goes to waste! Every piece of recyclable material that is diverted from landfill, makes a positive impact on our regions sustanabily and future. 

• Glass bottles and jars – beverage bottles, jam jars and sauce bottles, juice bottles and oil bottles. 
   
• Paper and cardboard - egg cartons, clean pizza boxes, glossy magazines, toilet rolls, cereal boxes, juice and milk cartons, wrapping paper and newspapers. (Hint, if the bottom of the pizza box is too greasy, break up the box and recycle the clean sections).
   
• Hard plastic containers – milk bottles, shampoo bottles, ice cream tubs, fruit punnets, detergent and soap bottles.
   
• Steel containers – canned food tins and pet food tins. 
   
• Aluminium – drink cans, empty aerosols, pie trays and foil from the kitchen, which should be scrunched into a ball.

How can I make sure my recycling is processed correctly?

Follow our tips to make sure your recyling can be sorted and processed more easily and efficiently!

Keep it clean

• Scrape out all food containers and pizza boxes before they go into the yellow lid bin.
• If you’re unsure, give it a quick rinse. This helps prevent contamination and ensures that the recycling process runs smoothly.

Make sorting simple

• Keep a separate sorting basket for recyclables in your kitchen, laundry and bathroom.
• Some items are made up of recyclable and non-recyclable materials, separate soft plastics coverings from food packaging to ensure more items can be recycled.

Keep it loose

• Don’t put your recyclables in a bag or bin liner as they may end up in landfill.
• Keep your recycling loose when it goes into your yellow lid bin.

Reminder: Never put anything smaller that a credit card in your recyling - this can damage the machinery. 

What Happens to my recycling?

Our household recyclables are collected by our contractor and transported to the Materials Recovery Facility in Mackay. Here, they are sorted into bales and transported to various manufacturers to be made into new things!

Keep it out! 

There are certain things that we must never put in our recyling, in fact when we put non-recylable items in the yellow bin, it can contaminate the whole load! This can mean it gets sent to landfill rather than being recycled. To ensure you make all your recyling efforts count, never put the following in your yellow bin: 

• Soft plastics - if you can scrunch it in your hands, then it’s a soft plastic. This includes food packaging, plastic film, bags and bin liners.  Please put soft plastics in the general waste bin or avoid them altogether.
   
• Food and garden waste - try to compost these! If you are unable to do so, food scraps sholud be put in your general waste bin. Green waste can be taken to your nearest transfer station to be made into mulch.
   
• Clothes and textiles -  if they are in good conditon, try selling them on, or donating to your nearest chairty shop. If not, repurpose as rags, or place into your general watse bin.
   
• Rigid Plastics - items like old toys, kitchenware, plant pots and industrial materials like PVC piping can’t be recycled through your yellow lid bin. if they are in good conditon, try selling them on, or donating to your nearest chairty shop. If not, place into your general watse bin.
   
• Batteries - should never be placed in your general waste bin or recycle bin, as they can cause fires in the bins or the trucks that collect them. Council runs a household battery recycling program. Look out for the special bins are located at all of our Customer Service Centres and Libraries. Bins can also be found at the Collinsville and Cannonvale Transfer Stations depots.
   
• e-waste - electronic waste should never be placed in the general waste bin or recycle bin as they contain toxic chemicals such as lead, cadmium and mercury that are bad for the environment and hazardous to human health. Intead take e-waste to your nearest landfill or transfer station o be disposed of correctly. 
   
• Other types of glass - don’t put glassware in the yellow lid bin. This can contaminate other recyclables, as this type of glass melts at a different temperature compared to bottles and jars which have previously contained food or liquid. Other  glass which has not contained food or liquid, should be placed placed in the general waste bin.