Your yellow-lid bin is for recycling. What you can put in your recycling bin has changed. This is because we’re only accepting materials that we know can be processed and recycled locally.

For a quick reference guide on how to use to use your yellow-lid recycling bin you can download our poster and/or watch the video. 

Download recycling bin poster

How to recycle using your yellow-lid recycle bin

What can go in

• Paper, cardboard, junk mail and egg cartons
• Aluminium foil and cans
• Metal lids from bottles and jars
• Milk, juice, soy milk and stock cartons
• Plastic bottles labelled 1 and 2 (lids off)
• All plastic items labelled 5

What can't go in

• Glass bottles and jars (these can still be recycled in your purple glass bin)
• Aerosol cans
• Plastic lids of any kind, including trigger, spray and pump lids
• All plastic items labelled 1 and 2 that are not plastic bottles
• All plastic items labelled 3,4,6 and 7. 
• Please don’t put glass in your yellow-lid bin. Read how to recycle glass. 

Remember

• Check the numbered labels on all plastic items before they go in the yellow recycling bin - only plastic bottles labelled 1, 2 and items labelled plastic 5 can be recycled.
• If the plastic item has no label or number, it goes in the rubbish bin.
• Rinse all food residue from containers.
• Scrunch your aluminium foil.
• Lids must always be off. Plastic lids go in the rubbish bin and metal lids in the recycling bin.
  Don’t put your recyclables in plastic bags.

Identification numbers and symbols

It’s important to know that the numbers and symbols found on the bottom of plastic items are not recycling symbols. It’s actually a plastic identification code which tells us what type of plastic it is. Find out what the numbers mean.

How to recycle

• Plastic
• Paper and cardboard
• Metal

Plastic

Plastic is much harder to recycle as it’s difficult for us to tell what material an item is made from, quickly, when sorting. 

There are also many products now that can’t be recycled, even though they may have the traditional recycling symbol. 

If you’re not sure if you can recycle something, unfortunately it is best to put it in your landfill bin. 

Items that can be recycled – labelled plastic type 1 and 2

• Cleaning product bottles 
• Detergent bottles
• Juice bottles
• Milk bottles
• Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel bottles
• Soft drink bottles

All items labelled plastic type 5 

• All plastic food containers labelled 5
• Ice-cream containers and lids (usually the same plastic)
• Plastic meat trays
• Butter, margarine, yoghurt, dip tubs

Items that can't be recycled

• Biscuit and cake trays
• Bottle tops − loose and on bottle
• Clothes hangers
• Cups − plastic disposable
• Cups − plastic reusable
• Cutlery
• Deodorant (roll on), as it has too many mixed materials
• Dip pots/tubs (not labelled 5)
• Meat trays (not labelled 5)
• Medicine bottles, as it's not hygienic
• Plant pots
• Plastic bags
• Plastic punnets (not labelled 5)
• Sushi containers
• Plastic take away containers (not labelled 5)
• Toys
• Yoghurt containers (not labelled 5)

We can’t recycle many of these items, because it is too difficult to know what they are made from.

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Paper and cardboard

Paper is easy to recycle, we grind it down and use it in many every day products such as paper towels, toilet paper and newspapers.

Food and drink cartons such as milk, juice, soy milk, stock cartons and some plastic containers are now accepted in your recycling bin.

Items that can be recycled

• Books
• Butcher’s paper
• Cardboard
• Cardboard boxes, but flattened
• Egg cartons, but with no residue
• Envelopes, with or without windows
• Greeting cards, but no novelty cards due to their small electronic components
• Junk mail
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Paper
• Paper bags, but they must be emptied and have no plastic lining and no cement bags
• Paper towel rolls (not paper towel)
• Phonebooks
• Pizza boxes, with no scraps
• Shredded paper
• Toilet rolls
• Wrapping paper

Items that can't be recycled

• Coffee cups, as their plastic coating can't be removed
• Paper towel
• Waxed cardboard boxes, as they create issues for recycling
• Paper based or compostable kitty litter

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Metal

Metal is also easy for us to recycle, as it can be melted down into new products such as food and drink cans.

However, some metal products have components made of plastic, and can’t be sorted or recycled by our processor.

Items that can be recycled

• Food and drink cans (empty)
• Can lids, but only if they're metal
• Cooking oil tins
• Aluminium foil, but only if it's scrunched
• Jar lids, but only if they're metal
• Pet food cans
• Tin cans, including baby formula cans

Items that can't be recycled

• Aerosol cans, for safety reasons
• Clothes hangers
• Cutlery
• Pots and pans