10 Things You Can Recycle
Whether you are a religious recycler or the just the paper and plastic recycler type, there may be a few household items you don’t know or didn’t think you could recycle.
HERE ARE 10 THINGS YOU CAN RECYCLE
AEROSOL CANS
Once the cans are empty, they can be recycled with other metal packaging without fear of explosion. Since the cans themselves are made from recyclable steel and aluminium, chuck it into the recycle bin. Remove any plastic parts and do not compress it. If your can is full or half full, reach out to your local council as it could be treated as hazardous waste.
ALUMINIUM FOIL
Eaten the entire bag of chocolate wrapped in foil? Scrunch the evidence into a ball and throw the evidence into your recycle bin. You can also recycle the disposable pan lids and the foil lids of your favourite yoghurt. Just rinse and add to the bin.
BATHROOM PRODUCT BOTTLES
This is mainly for the lazy recyclers since most people don’t think about putting a recycle bin in their bathroom. The toilet rolls, shampoo and body wash bottles, and the such end up in the trash, but can all be recycled. Take the extra time to drop it into your recycle bin.
BOTTLE CAPS
The steel beer bottle caps, the plastic ones on milk bottles, the caps on your favourite drink bottle, and so on, can all be recycled. They usually end up in landfills because they are so small so to make sure they hit the recycle bin, collect them in a larger recyclable container and when it’s ready, close it and add to recycle bin.
COFFEE PODS
Single serve coffee machines are a lifesaver but the leftover pods are wasteful. Nespresso will take your old pods and has over 19,000 collection points in Australia.
JUICE and MILK CARTONS
Those multiple bonded materials of long life milk, soup, and juice containers can all be recycled. Chuck them in the bin and at the processing facility, they’re swirled with water to help separate the cardboard from the plastic and aluminium. Neat huh?
MAKEUP
All of that unused and expired makeup can be recycled. L’Oreal Australia has teamed up with TerraCycle to give your beauty products a second life. You can drop off the products at the nearest public drop off point or sign up for free to start collecting at your home for yourself, your office, or neighbourhood.
PACKING PEANUTS
Also known to the recycling world as polystyrene, visit espa.org.au for a recycling centre near you and if you can’t find a recycle centre that takes them, call up your local shipping store and ask if they’ll take them to reuse for future shipped items.
PLASTIC BAGS and WRAPPERS
These don’t go in your yellow topped recycling bins, but REDcycle can accept it. They will accept all soft plastic that can be squished or scrunched into a ball. Check to see if there is REDCycle in your area HERE.
WINE CORKS
Wine lovers rejoice! You can recycle wine corks. It is a natural and biodegradable and can be recycled into products like coasters, cork boards, mats, and flooring. Check out GiveNow about cork donations or shred them up and toss them into your compost bin or use in your garden as mulch.
Leave your favourite recycling tip below.
Read more on recycling:
Composting 101: How to Learn to Love your Garbage
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