COTA SA's Climate Change Group is passionate about the actions that individuals can take, big or small, that helps to care for the planet. One of these actions is sharing stories and finding reliable sources of information that are balanced and easy to understand. Our Climate Change Group members will share stories and information that they find useful with the hope that you will find it useful too! Today, some simple guidelines for recycling.
It often seems difficult to get a simple set of guidelines for recycling: what goes into which bin. And some of it doesn’t go into any bin – so what then?
Members of the Climate Change Group have consolidated the various guides into a simple set which covers most items, as follows:
Green Bin: anything which grew e.g. food, soiled paper and cardboard, compostable bags and compostable coffee cups
Yellow Bin: clean recyclable paper and cardboard, rigid plastic, tins, glass bottles
Red or blue Rubbish Bin: most of the rest but not building materials, paint, hazardous materials etc...
Special recyclables:
- Blister packs – pharmacies such as National Pharmacies
- Soft, scrunchable plastics: Many Woolworths stores - and watch out for other soft plastic recycling trials in your council area
- Batteries and lightbulbs: Many hardware stores, supermarkets and Council depots
- E-waste – anything with a cord, battery or switch: Council drop-off centres
- Paints, solvents, building materials: Adelaide Waste and Recycling Centre in North Plympton or Heathfield Resource Recovery Centre. Paintback.com.au also provides additional locations for paint tins
- Textiles/fabric: Donate clothes which are still in good, usable condition. For textiles that are no longer good enough to donate, there are recycling programs and some shops will accept them.
Watch out for special recycling events too. Next month you can Set your clothes free: On 31 October there will be 14 drop-off points open across South Australia where you can drop your clean textiles in any condition - learn more and find a drop-off point near you.
Plus, check your local area for options - there may be additional options near you such as a Recycling Centre which consolidates various types of recycling on one spot.
For questions: ask your local Council or go to whichbin.sa.gov.au
Contact us: If you have more information or feedback, please contact the COTA SA Climate Change Group via the COTA SA reception desk on 08 82320422.