For our kerbside recycling system to work, all recyclable materials need to be placed loose into kerbside recycling bins.
Recycling tied up inside plastic bags and placed in your kerbside recycling bin won’t get recycled, as bags can’t be opened at the sorting facility. Instead they get sent straight to landfill, wasting your effort and the valuable materials inside.
Why can’t sorting facilities open up plastic bags?
Opening up plastics bags is too dangerous for staff at the facilities, as they have been known to occasionally hold needles, chemicals and other toxic waste. The bags themselves can become tangled in sorting machinery, causing costly delays and breakdowns.
Keep your recycling loose!
You can collect your recycling inside anything as long as you tip it in loose into the bin, but most people find it easiest to use a bin, crate, box or hanging reusable bag which gets filled up, tipped out and brought back inside to use again.
Did you know?
Empty plastic bags and other loose soft plastics don’t belong in your yellow bin either. Find out what to do with them here.
We know its not always easy to know how to recycle right, so check out your Council list of Do and Don’ts here.
