Yellow bin vs 100% Clean Recycling

Council recycling bins are amazing, but they aren’t a 100% clean solution for all bottles and cans to be recycled. Even if you do right by your yellow bin, your recycling can still end up in landfill. All it takes is a passer-by’s banana peel to contaminate the whole truckload! Mixed container recycling (i.e., yellow bins) can be up to 30% contaminated according to this recent report.

The most common contaminants include soft plastics, polystyrene, containers with food residue and the odd dreaded nappy! Contaminants can also be a mix of non-recyclables such as certain packaging, partially full aerosols and broken glass. Consumer confusion also results in incorrectly sorted items making their way into the truck; although as you probably know (or didn’t know) – what can go in the yellow bin changes from council to council, so it’s pretty easy to get mixed up.

Contamination = more emissions

It’s a bit of a dirty word

In the best-case scenario, once the council collection truck makes its way to the waste company’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), mixed recycling needs to be separated and sorted. What is recyclable here, non-recyclables there, plastic here, cardboard there, contaminated over there, etc. The materials, once separated and baled, are then transported to different companies all across Australia and even overseas, or taken to landfill.

You can see why we call this the indirect approach. It adds time, money and extra emissions.

Contamination can make its way into the recycling stream at any point along the truck’s route, so even if one street recycles right, the next street over might add undesirable items into the mix. Contamination doesn’t just pollute, it also lowers the quality of the recycling material and means it will need extra processing before it is clean enough to use.

That means being trucked to different facilities, which again is time, money and yep, you guessed it. More emissions.

The higher the contamination rate the less valuable the resources are for reuse. Some councils put extra effort into recovering materials, but in others, contaminated loads go straight to landfill. In fact, this recent article found that any load with more than 25% contamination went straight to landfill.

Direct Recycling

Our services are a direct path from your hands to the recycler. It means containers are managed through an effective contaminant-free process, from a quality-controlled collection system to comprehensive processing.

It’s through this commitment that you know with 100% certainty that you’re contributing to a circular economy – a system based on the reuse and regeneration of high quality materials.

Recycling isn’t just rubbish, it’s a resource.

Let’s keep it in the loop

Not only can your containers be reformed into new bottles and cans, but recent innovation has seen them utilised in infrastructure like concrete and railway sleepers.

These leaps in material reuse are vital pillars for creating a circular economy – an economic system based on regenerating materials produced in sustainable or environmentally friendly ways.

All these exciting and innovative possibilities are made far more efficient if we get better at how we collect our recycling, but we need collective change.

Are you ready?