Recycling things that you use is an important action you can take to live more sustainably and reduce pollution. However, it is not always easy to find out how and where you can recycle some items. Don’t dump it, recycle it!
The following products are often taken by local Council kerbside collections . Check with your Council to verify:
- Paper and cardboard
- Cans
- Plastic containers
- Milk cartons
- Glass bottles and jars (unbroken)
Some councils offer drop off recycling for (again, check with your Council to verify):
- Computer equipment
- Used batteries
- Used motor oil and containers
Computer equipment
- ERNi – Recycle equipment for people with disabilities
- Recycle and distribute computers and equipment to people with disabilities throughout Maroondah and Victoria
- Telephone 03 9879 5211 Email erni@erni.asn.au
Other items
- Mobile phone recycling — by donating your unwanted mobile phone you’ll prevent highly toxic materials ending up in landfill.
- Plastic supermarket bags should either be banned or heavily taxed. However, you can recycle your bags by taking them to a collecting point at Safeway supermarkets.
- Pot Recyclers — recycle garden and nusery plastic pots in Western Australia. The nursery and gardening industry contribute 100 million plastic plant pots to landfill in Western Australia each year – the equivalent of 8,000 tonnes of waste material. Recycling pots in other Australian states is currently almost impossible. Nurseries no longer accept them and no plastic recycling business does either. Government action on this is urgently required.
- Battery recycling. Ikea is currently (as of 2008) one of the few organisations that offer collection points for household batteries in Australia.
- Light bulb recycling Ikea also offers light bulb collection points in their Australian stores. Both batteries and light bulbs contain toxic chemicals (such as mercury) which should not be introduced to landfill through normal garbage collections.
Items more difficult to recycle
- Polystyrene
- Empty motor oil containers
- Used light globes. Note that compact fluorescent lights contain small amounts of mercury, so they should not go to landfill.
General recycling information and guides
- Recycling Near You – Home — Planet Ark and Sensis ‘Recycling Near You’ website. You can search for local recycling information either by Council AREA or PRODUCT.
- Wikipedia:Recycling
- Learn to recycle on the Recycling guide (United Kingdom)
- Environment Protection Authority, Victoria, Australia
