Recycling bin

Yellow-Bin.jpg

This bin is for recyclable items. Rinse out all containers (no food bits please!). Remove bottle lids and discard into garbage bin.

The following materials are permitted to be put in your recycling bin:

  • All rigid disposable plastic containers from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry*
  • Glass bottles and jars** that are clear, brown or green
  • Aluminium cans
  • Steel cans
  • Milk cartons, Tetra Paks, and Poppers
  • Aerosol cans
  • Paper, newspapers, magazines
  • Cardboard

* If the plastic items can easily be squashed in your hand (i.e. plastic film and chip packet wrappers) they cannot be recycled through the yellow-lid recycling bin.

**Jar lids can be recycled (they are large enough to be captured). Remove them from the jars and put them into the recycling bin separately.

The following materials are NOT to be put in your recycling bin:

  • Plastic bags and plastic wrap
  • Window or mirror glass
  • Plastic toys
  • Crockery or porcelain (plates and mugs)
  • Coffee cups and lids
  • Drinking glasses
  • Light bulbs
  • Pizza boxes (unless clean)
  • Meat trays
  • Foam or Styrofoam
  • Bubble wrap
  • Wax-coated fruit boxes
  • Paint tins

More information on how to recycle tricky items can be found in the A-Z of Recycling.

Weight limit: 80Kg

Check your collection dates

Where does this waste go?

Recycling saves landfill space, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, saves energy and saves water. The contents of Council's recycling bins are first taken to Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre in Ingleside, then loaded onto semi-trailers and sent to iQRenew's materials recovery facility for sorting and further processing into new products. 

Watch the Planet Ark video below to find out how items are separated and processed for recycling:

 

Recycling has real benefits – on average, Willoughby residents' recycling annually saves:

  • 140 million litres of water - enough to fill 56 Olympic sized swimming pools
  • Enough energy to power 655 homes
  • 4,264 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - equivalent to removing 1,024 cars off our roads
  • 23,400 cubic metres of landfill

Figures based on Willoughby City Council's annual recycling tonnages using Visy's Environmental Benefits of Recycling Calculator

Unfortunately, not everything can successfully be recycled. The diagram below explains how items are processed so they can be turned into new products, and why some things can’t be recycled.

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