According to data from the last SWAP bin audit, 13.5% of what’s in recycling bins is recycling contamination – this means we have room for improvement on our recycling habits.
These items are not supposed to be put in the recycling bin and are considered 'contaminants'. They could make clean recyclable items dirty (and no longer able to be recycled), or impact the value of the collected recycling by having other materials in it.
Some of the most common contaminants are:
- Dirty items - recyclable items with food or liquid still in them, oily paper or cardboard
- Soft plastics - cling film, plastic bags, bubble wrap, zip lock bags, foil chip packets
- Tetrapak - long-life milk, almond milk or liquid stock packaging
- Polystyrene – appliance packaging, packaging ‘peanuts’, takeaway containers
Reducing the level of contamination in recycling streams helps to lower the cost of recycling for the city and maximise the amount of recyclables that can be turned into new items. The more items that are correctly recycled, the less that are unnecessarily sent to landfill.
You can find out more about what items shouldn’t go into the yellow-lid recycling bin HERE.