Brushing your teeth before washing your face (or vice versa) before bed each night, tackling laundry on a Saturday morning or Friday night pizza in front of the TV. There are many habits we adopt around our homes that we repeat time and time again without much thought or change. And it’s the same with our rubbish and recycling, with many of our bin behaviours done on autopilot.
It's National Recycling Week 11 - 17 November, no better time to share results from a recent survey of some 700 Northern Beaches residents about their bin habits.
Council asked 5 key questions about items in their rubbish, and what bins they put them in. Over 80% of the participants demonstrated that some or all their bin habits could be improved.
The study has revealed that many of us are relying on out of date or incorrect information when it comes to bin night. And it can be unsustainable for our precious environment.
Soiled takeaway food boxes remain one of the highest areas of confusion. 65% of respondents are following old rules when it comes to pizza boxes, separating clean cardboard into the blue bin and soiled cardboard into the red.
Recent advancement in processing means blue bin recycling for the entire box – grease and oil-stained parts. Parts with baked on food scraps must be separated into the red bin instead to avoid contaminating the recyclables.
When it comes to our yellow bins, the survey shows us that some of you are still ‘wish cycling’ – putting items into that bin in the hope that it can be recycled. 16% - roughly one in 7 - would put broken plastic laundry baskets, petrol cans or garden hoses in the yellow bin, when they should be binned red instead or taken elsewhere for specialised recycling.
Council actively supports the use of reuseable drink bottles, coffee cups and food containers. Encouragingly, for those still using single use takeaway coffee cups, our survey reveals that 82% of you know to dispose of both the cup and lid in the red bin system. Disposable cups are hard to recycle because of the range of materials used and leftover food and liquid can contaminate loads.
It’s no surprise there’s confusion about right from wrong, given the wide range of containers - plastic, glass, metal and otherwise – in the retail system, a myriad of recycling symbols and conflicting recycling messages from multiple sources.
Add to this the fact that information, technology and demand for products as a resource to recycle, can change over time and between Councils, there’s a lot to take in.
Council regularly collaborates with contactors to reconsider what items can be recycled. This makes it more important than ever to refresh the rubbish and recycling rules both here on the Beaches and should you move out of area.
For more information on how to Bin it Right – head to our website hub.