Pizza boxes, soft plastics, aerosols, batteries. These are the items that cause the most confusion at bin night. This guide covers the most common household items and which bin they belong in, based on Australian council guidelines.
General waste (red lid). Greasy cardboard cannot be recycled because oil contaminates the paper fibres. Clean pizza boxes (top half only, no grease) can go in recycling.
General waste (red lid). Soft plastics jam sorting machinery and must not go in the yellow recycling bin. Some supermarkets run drop-off programs. Check if your local store participates.
General waste (red lid). Polystyrene is not accepted in kerbside recycling anywhere in Australia. It breaks into tiny beads that pollute waterways.
Yellow recycling or purple glass bin. Rinse them out and remove lids. If your council provides a separate purple glass bin, use that.
Do NOT put in any bin. Batteries can cause fires in rubbish trucks. Take them to a drop-off point at Officeworks, IKEA, or most hardware stores.
General waste (red lid). Nappies are not recyclable or compostable in standard kerbside services.
General waste (red lid). Most takeaway coffee cups have a plastic liner that makes them non-recyclable in kerbside bins. The lid is usually recyclable rigid plastic.
FOGO (lime green lid) if available, otherwise general waste. If your council runs a FOGO service, food scraps including meat, dairy, and cooked food go in the lime-green bin in a compostable liner.
Yellow recycling when completely empty. Never puncture them. If the can still has product in it, take it to a hazardous household waste drop-off.
General waste (red lid). Wrap them in newspaper first. They cannot go in the glass or recycling bin as they damage sorting equipment and injure workers.