Recycling
Redlands residents love to recycle but are we doing it right?
Of the 7,500 truck-loads full of rubbish households produced last year, 19 per cent isn’t actually rubbish at all. It’s recyclables! That’s equivalent to 7,600 tonnes of recycling, or 950 truck-loads, of recycling going straight to landfill.
Of the 1,600 truck-loads of recyclables produced by households last year, 12 per cent was contaminated. That’s over 1,600 tonnes, or over 200 truck-loads of rubbish choking our recycling facility every year. This contamination can damage the machinery, and reduce the efficiency of the sorting operations. In short, contamination can undo a lot of our hard work.
With 96 per cent of people in the Redlands believing they understand what can be recycled, we have a little work ahead of us to get our recycling right.
Recycling over time
Recycling has changed dramatically over the past 10 to 15 years in Australia. This is due to the great advancements in technology as well as waste treatment and disposal.
Since kerbside recycling began in 1996 in the Redlands, we have seen big changes when it comes to our household recycling services.
Redlands’ recyclable goods used to go to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Thornlands. However, as the Redlands’ population has risen, so too has the amount of recycling. The MRF in Thornlands closed in 2006 and now all Redlands’ recycling is taken to a Visy MRF in Brisbane. There, a state-of-the-art MRF can process a staggering 320 - 350 tonnes of recyclables per day.
With over one kilometre of conveyer belts, powerful magnets, infrared technology, Auto Plastic Sort and the capacity to process 25 tonnes per hour, this facility is world class.
Top three offending items in the recycling facility:
- 20 plastic bags detected per minute
- 1 dirty nappy detected per minute
- 240 litre wheelie bin of syringes detected every month
Not all recyclables can go in your yellow-lid bin. To find out how to recycle other household items such as corks, x-rays, car batteries and tyres, reading glasses and clothes, visit our
A-Z guide to waste and recycling.
Do you know which bin you should put your waste into?
Below is a simple guide of what can be placed in the recycling bin. For a more comprehensive guide check out our
A-Z guide to waste and recycling on our 'Rethink your rubbish' website.
Waste item –
not an inclusive list |
Waste bin |
Yellow topped recycle bin |
Aluminium cans and clean foil |
|
4 |
Broken* bric-a-brac |
4 |
|
Broken* ceramics |
|
|
Cardboard |
|
4 |
Electrical appliances |
4 |
|
Food scraps |
4 |
|
Glass bottles and jars |
|
4 |
Grass clippings and vegetation |
4(bagged) |
|
Lids from jars and containers |
|
4 |
Newspapers and magazines |
|
4 |
Nappies |
4 |
|
Phone books |
|
4 |
Pizza Boxes |
|
4 |
Plastic bags or wrap |
4 |
|
Plastic containers
(# 1 – 7) |
|
4 |
Plastic items e.g. hosing |
4 |
|
Polystyrene foam |
|
|
Sawdust |
4 (bagged) |
|
Steel and aluminium aerosol cans |
|
4 |
Useful links