Consumer Utility Services Blog

Recycling Guide For Householders

Recycling domestic waste is an important aspect of environmental living, but it is often not straightforward as to what can be recycled, what can't be recycled and how we should go about recycling. This guide will help illustrate how you should go about recycling your waste.

There are three main types of domestic waste that are commonly recyclable, these are: paper, plastic, and glass. There are specific checklists that you should be aware of when attempting to recycle waste or old items in each of these categories, as you will be given the option to sort your recyclable items into specific recycle bins. It is essential that you understand what should and should not be included in each recycle bin.

Recycling Paper

• It sounds obvious, but if you are recycling paper, it should solely be paper. This means removing any extraneous items that maybe included in the paper package such as staples, sticky tape, plastic windows or metal binders. If any of these are left on the paper, it is likely that the batch will not be recycled and/or will cause the recycling machinery problems.
• Laminated paper or cardboard boxes (unless they are well flattened) should not be included in paper recycling.
• If paper food boxes or napkins are to be included ensure that they are clean and do not contain discarded food or grease.
• Paper that has been used for faxes or till receipts are not usually able to be recycled so do not include this type of paper

Recycling Plastic

There are over 50 different types of plastic used in various types of packages so it can be very difficult to ascertain which type of plastic can be recycled and which can't. If you aren't sure, you should check the plastic packages for a recycling logo, which will contain numbering applying to a category of plastic.

The table below displays the relevant plastic recycling categories by "number", "category of plastic" and "typical packaging" it is used in

1 - PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) = Waterproof packaging
2 - HDPE (high density polyethylene) = Milk, detergent, oil bottles, plastic bags
3 - PVC (polyvinyl chloride) = Food wrap, vegetable oil bottles, bubble wrap
4 - LDPE (low density polyethylene) = Plastic bags, shrink wrap, garment bags
5 - PP (polypropylene) = Most bottle tops, some food wrap
6 - PS (polystyrene) = Throwaway utensils, meat packaging
7 - Other (mixed plastics) = No recycling potential so must be landfilled

Information courtesy of the Society of the Plastics Industry (SDI).

You should note that not all of the categories of plastic can be recycled. As a rule of thumb you will be able to recycle plastic that falls under category 1, 2 and 4 and to a limited extent category 6.

Also, bottle tops are often made from different material to the bottle itself, so it is advisable to remove bottle tops prior to recycling.

Recycling Glass

• Only glass should be recycled - make sure that any metal caps or bottle tops are removed.
• It is likely that you will be taking glass bottles to a bottle bank. This will involve you separating the glass into different coloured glass, e.g. brown, green, etc.
• Do not attempt to recycle glass kitchenware as this is created to withstand high temperatures so they will not melt at the same temperature as standard glass bottles.
• Glass is recycled at very high temperatures so it is not necessary to ensure that glass bottles are free from grease.
• DO NOT under any circumstances recycle light bulbs in standard glass recycling bins. It is important that light bulbs are recycled separately as they can contain dangerous contaminants that need to be disposed of safely.

posted by Admin @ 11:07