Think Yellow: recycle right and keep valuable materials out of landfill
Whyalla City Council is reminding residents that the yellow-lidded recycling bin plays an important role in ensuring valuable materials can be recycled into new products, rather than being unnecessarily buried in the ground.
The yellow bin is designed for clean paper and cardboard; glass bottles and jars; aluminium and steel cans; and hard plastic containers. These materials can be collected, sorted and processed into new products when placed in the correct bin.
However, contamination remains a challenge facing recycling programs, with bagged recyclables being the biggest issue. Items such as soft plastics, food waste, garden organics, clothing, textiles, nappies and electronic waste should never be placed in the yellow bin, as they can contaminate loads and reduce the amount of material that can be successfully recycled.
Council’s Waste Officer Charuka Sanduni said residents can make a significant difference by taking a few extra seconds to check which bin an item belongs in.
“If recyclables go in the wrong bin and end up in landfill, their potential to be recycled is lost, which is a waste of a resource,” Ms Sanduni said.
“This means more precious natural materials – such as trees – need to be consumed to produce new items like paper and boxes, which isn’t good for our environment.
“It also saves energy. Take aluminium foil as an example – recycling it saves more than 90% of the energy required to produce it from raw materials, so it’s incredibly important and valuable to recycle.”
Ms Sanduni provided several tips to remember when it comes to recycling:
✅ Aluminium foil can be recycled by scrunching it up into a ball the size of a tennis ball and placing it into your yellow bin
If your foil ball is smaller than this, keep adding to it until it’s big enough to be recycled, or put it in an aluminium can
✅ Aluminium trays and pie plates can go into your recycling bin loose – just make sure they’re fairly clean first
✅ Empty and rinse containers before they go in the bin
✅ Metal / aluminium lids from cans and jars (and bottles with screw-tops) can be placed inside a metal can. Once the can’s full, squeeze the top of it shut so the lids don’t fall out, then place it in the yellow bin
✅ Flatten cardboard boxes to save space
❎ Keep soft plastics, food scraps and household rubbish out of the yellow bin
❎ Never place recyclable items in a bag – they should go in loose
If you’re ever unsure about what can and can’t go in your yellow recycling bin, visit whichbin.sa.gov.au, which has a host of other handy recycling hints.
If you’ve got other materials that don’t go in any of your bins and you want to minimise costs to dispose of them, be sure to check out our list of free waste options. This flyer will also be going out to all households later this year, so be sure to keep an eye out for it.
By recycling correctly and keeping valuable materials out of landfill, residents can help conserve resources and protect the environment, so we can all continue to Enjoy Whyalla.