5 recycling tips for soy sauce fish bottles and more
Better ideas to live sustainably
Better ideas to live sustainably
Despite your best intentions, your recycling could contaminate. If enough of the ‘wrong’ plastic is found in the yellow-lid recycling bin, the whole lot can end up in landfill. Find out how to recycle different types of plastics properly.
Plastic bags are often found in the recycling bin and are a major cause of strife at the recycling plant. Plastic bags can become tangled in sorting machinery, potentially causing breakdowns and even fires. They can also hinder the recycling process for other materials.
What to do:
Soft plastics are usually wrappers and packaging (bread bags, pasta packets, biscuit and chocolate trays). Rigid plastics are often containers (water bottles, ice cream containers, fruit punnets, shampoo bottles).
The difference? Soft plastics are not recyclable and should never go in the yellow-lid bin. Use the scrunch test if you’re unsure. If you can easily scrunch it, it’s probably not recyclable.
What to do:
Combined items, such as magazines that come wrapped in plastic, can’t be recycled as is. Take the wrapping off and recycle separately.
Composite items include packaging that contains cardboard and another material – say, plastic or aluminium. Unfortunately, the materials can’t be separated, meaning that composite items are not recyclable. Put them in your red-lid bin.
What to do:
Those cute fish-shaped soy sauce containers have a habit of hanging around. Can they be recycled? Yes, but this comes with a caveat. Even if properly disposed of, small items like sushi fish can be lost at the recycling plant.
This is because the machinery used to sort recyclables has size limits. Only items as large as a business card will go through. Anything smaller ends up in the landfill pile.
What to do:
The chasing arrow symbol does not denote the recyclability of a material. The number inside the arrow denotes an international plastic code. The best way to find out if an item is recyclable is to check with your local council. The rules are different depending on where you live. If in doubt, it’s better to place in the red-lid bin to avoid contamination.
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