Have you ever found yourself facing your recycling bin, completely befuddled about whether or not you can put a particular item in it? You’re not alone. According to Planet Ark,  nearly half of Australians find recycling confusing. Australia’s recycling rules can seem horrendously complicated, but fortunately they are becoming more simple. New channels for recycling more complex items have been pioneered by organisations such as Planet Ark and TerraCycle, as well as by local councils, industry and government under schemes such as the Australian Packaging Covenant and the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme. Free Terracycle recycling programs. Adapted from TerraCycle (http://www.terracycle.com.au). Recycling is vital to reducing resource use and waste to landfill, and so getting it right is crucial.

As more recycling programs pop up around the country it’s important to keep up to date.  So in the second part of this article we look at seven more items that most Australians could be recycling - but probably aren’t. See Part One of the article for the first seven items. 8. Light Globes - Light globes come in a few different types which differ in composition as well as means of disposal. Fluorescent tubes, compact fluoros (CFLs), HIDs and metal halides all contain mercury and need to be recycled through council, commercial or community programs that safely separate the different elements. Incandescent globes and halogens can be recycled through some of these programs or can simply be wrapped in paper and disposed of in the garbage bin. They are made from low value and non-toxic materials which makes recycling them very difficult. 9. Mailing Satchel - If your workplace uses lots of Australia Post mailing satchels you can sign up to the free Mailing Satchel Recycling Program run in conjunction with TerraCycle. Once you’ve signed up you just bag up your satchels, download a shipping label and post them off to be recycled. 10. Paint - Under the new PaintBack scheme 15 cents is added to the price of each litre of paint which is used to establish collection points and recycling processes for un-used paint. PaintBack locations are beginning to appear around the country. Many councils, state-run clean out programs and the Community Recycling Centres in NSW also collect paint. Find a site near you. 11. Ink and Toner Cartridges - Whether you use ink jet cartridges at home or toners at work recycling them is easy though 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark'. There are collection boxes in over 4,000 retail outlets and your workplace can apply for your own box. And better still it’s completely free to the user as the participating manufacturers – Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Konica Minolta and Kyocera - cover the costs. 12. Pizza Boxes - An increasing number of councils accept pizza boxes for recycling. They just need to be free of solid food and too much oil. If the base it too soiled, you can tear it off and dispose of it in the garbage bin and recycle the top. 13. Soft Plastics - You can drop your used soft plastics including bread, cereal, pasta, lolly and dry cleaning bags off at participating (metro) Coles and some Woolworths stores where they will be recycled into new products like furniture for schools. The basic rule is that if you can scrunch it you can recycle it. (Residents in some councils like those around Perth, plus Ballina, Lismore, and Moreland can recycle soft plastics in the council bin.) Make sure you follow council advice re soft plastic as it can cause problems if it ends up in the wrong system. 14. Toothpaste Tubes and Brushes - These are tricky and definitely can’t go in your home recycling bin but can be recycled though TerraCycle’s Oral Care Recycling Program. The program is ideal for workplaces or schools as it also operates as a fundraiser. So are there any items on this list that you're not recycling? Follow the link to find out more or check out RecyclingNearYou.com.au for lots more recycling information.

Today I sent out email to a few schools (Bullcreek PS, Oberthur PS, Bateman PS, Caralee CS, FLDC, Melville PS, Bicton PS, Attadale PS, Ardross PS, Applecross SHS, Mount Pleasant PS, Brentwood PS, Leeming SHS, West Leeming PS, Leeming PS, Banksia Park PS, Kardinya PS, Palmyra PS, Booragoon PS, Melville SHS, Winthrop PS, Yidarra CPS, Kennedy BC, All Saints C, Corpus Christi C, Mel Maria CPS, Our Lady of Fatima, Santa Maria, St Benedicts and St Georges Anglican Grammar!) Basically, I think schools are a great place to start when it comes to reaching a group of people and … educating them. The gist of the email is as follows… I am challenging the schools of the City of Melville to participate in a free program to promote recycling waste streams that would normally end up in landfill. The City of Melville has an A-Z list of items http://recycleright.wa.gov.au/your-a-z-of-recycling/ that go in their ‘Green top bins’ (aka Organic Compost and Landfill) and ‘yellow top bins’ recycling. RecycleRight have a free app for smartphones http://recycleright.wa.gov.au/download-our-app/ Some of the items that are not recycled through City of Melville is the humble toothbrush and tube of Toothpaste. TerraCycle take on the waste streams that our curb side collectors can’t. They will even pay postage and give you points for each piece over 1kg (up to 22kg/package). All you have to do is bring in your brush (and other dental hygiene products.) Run it through the Student Council, giving the student body ownership and an ingrained school ethic to care for the environment! Advertise it on your school website, in class rooms and the school newsletter. Or perhaps via the P&C/P&F. Put your school and Melville area on the Map for public drop locations. I believe there are 30 odd schools in the City of Melville, which one will be the best at recycling an everyday product that everyone uses? Not only will you be helping keeping toothbrushes out of landfill, you will be stopping them from contaminating glass in the City of Melville yellow bins (yep, glass.) Please read the TerraCycle link and challenge your students to be part of keeping plastic out of landfill. Postage is pre-paid by TerraCycle, the program is free and you get points that make prizes for your school. Other business Oral Care Brigade: http://www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU/brigades/oral-care-brigade Oral Care Recycling Program · TerraCycle http://www.terracycle.com.au TerraCycle and Colgate® have partnered to create a free recycling program for oral care product packaging as well as a fundraising opportunity for participants. Oral Care Brigade specially for schools: http://www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU/brigades/bsbf-schools Bright Smiles, Bright Futures™ Oral Care Recycling Program http://www.terracycle.com.au Welcome to all primary schools receiving Colgate® Bright Smiles, Bright Futures™ oral health education kits. Join this recycling program for free and help divert … RecycleRight do have tours if your school was interested in investigating the impact of of recycling and rubbish and how our systems work in the Melville Shire. http://recycleright.wa.gov.au/contact/take-a-tour/ Recycle Right – Take a Free Tour of the RRRC Recycling … recycleright.wa.gov.au Take a free tour – RecycleRight, designed to educate visitors about the recycling process. Visit m.recycleright.wa.gov.au for ideas on living more sustainably. Take it a step further and do the beauty packaging http://www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU/brigades/beauty-products-recycling-program. They have several different waste streams and quite a few are free! http://www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU/collection-programs Some of their programs do involve a cost, I’d be thrilled if you took them up but I’d be happy with just getting toothbrushes out of landfill. Should your school wish to purchase some of the TerraCycle bins that are not on their free list, fundraise with a mufti-day for a gold coin donation. Have the students and teachers wear all natural fibres (or TRY to.) Natural fibres include cotton, wool, silk & hemp. Beauty Products Recycling Program http://www.terracycle.com.au L’Oréal Australia® and its brand Garnier® have teamed up with TerraCycle® to provide a second life for used personal care and beauty packaging through the free … I am a resident in the City of Melville, I have no affiliation with the companies mentioned. I’m just a mum, with young children in a local school who wants to make a difference in more then just my catchment area. My personal motivation is to have less waste, my inspiration has come from reading about Australian, Erin Rhoads www.therogueginger.com and Beth Terry https://myplasticfreelife.com. Beth Terry has a great book called Plastic Free, which would be an amazing addition to your school library. Although it has an American focus, it is a very good starting point for anyone wishing to minimise their plastic footprint. She also refers to many Australian programs. Other books for your school may be Joel Harper, All the way to the Ocean and Patricia Newma’s, Plastic Ahoy! Please inspire change and awareness, thank you for reading. Please note this program isn’t to undermine the work that the City of Melville & RecycleRight do, it is intended to complement it. Please download their app and/or take their free tour! Electric toothbrushes, electric toothbrush replacement heads & floss string are landfill. Bamboo toothbrushes are to go into home compost. Who knows, maybe they will take up the challenge. I hope so!

Office Rubbish Removal Sydney: many offices do not produce a great deal of waste, especially for smaller office spaces with less than 10 workers. In some instances, the council bin provision may be suitable for your needs. However, it is pretty simple to organise low cost and effective waste management and recycling services for your office – and achieve very high levels of recycling to help the environment. Of course, as with everything else, a little bit of effort by your staff in separating waste and recyclables can really help to increase recycling percentages. Waster offers low cost and flexible waste, recycling and office rubbish removal Sydney services through flexible 30 day agreements. Check out our online shop for all options and services: By putting in place a simple waste management plan, you can pretty easily achieve very high recycling rates for your business – this can help keep your staff engaged and also lead to a better work atmosphere. We list from top to bottom – the easiest and cheapest recycling options to put in place to reduce any waste ending up in landfill. Cardboard and Paper recycling – most offices produce lots of paper and some cardboard. The cheapest way (and most environmentally friendly way to get rid of it is to have a cardboard bin collection. If some of your paperwork is confidential – you can organise a shredding bin. Confidential document shredding: a confidential shredding bin ensures your private docs are not simply thrown in the garbage. The bin is kept and collected by a security cleared driver from inside your office space. Commingled recycling: if your office has items like drinks cans, plastic bottle etc – a commingled recycling bin ( a yellow mixed recycling bin) could be a good move and will let you reduce any general waste going to landfill. Organic food waste: if you produce reasonable amounts of food waste, their may be an organic food waste collection service in your area. Alternatively, if you have a garden you could think about a composter. Recycling boxes: it is good to know also that pretty much anything can be recycled using TerraCycle recycling boxes – such as cigarettes, coffee pods, rubber gloves or hairnets – pretty much anything.

An industry forum on aerosols and 'staying relevant to today’s consumer' will be held as part of the Aerosol Association of Australia's industry training and education events this month. Aerosol 2017 will be held from 21-23 March in Sydney, and the forum will be run out of the Harbourside Room in the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in The Rocks on the 23rd. The talks will include the following line-up: ‘The New Consumer’ – Emma Lo Russo, CEO of Digivizer 'Aerosol Innovation: Examples from around the world’ – Jo Jackson, Colep/ACOA ‘Recycling traditionally unrecyclable products’ – Gemma Kaczerepa, TerraCycle Australia & New Zealand ‘Compressed gas and bi-compartmental aerosols’ – Paul Sullivan, MD of DH Industries ‘Are legislative and technical standards keeping up with innovation or a barrier to it?’ – Alain D’haese, European Aerosol Federation ‘The role of technical innovation to promote safety and product quality: an example’ – Richard Cooper, Emerson Automation Solutions – Cascade Technologies ‘How technology can enhance the customer relationship’ – Ben Smith, Engagis To register to attend the forum, click here.

The Green Team have also pushed measures to reduce waste at the ASRC, including by installing compost bins and a terracycling centre. The terracycling station “upcycles” dental waste, including used toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. The ASRC has been paid $35 for this waste and saved 10kg from landfill.

Item recycling is a win-win strategy, not only to help save the planet, but also to save you in the garbage. But do you know the correct item recycling? From the cap to the spray cans, maybe you still do not know the following things are recyclable. 

Recycling is a win-win strategy that not only helps save the planet, but also saves you in the rubbish.  But do you know the correct item recycling? From the cap to the spray cans, maybe you still do not know the following things are recyclable. 

This blog post is based on an article published at treehugger.com and posted by TerraCycle. We always like to keep up to date with any tech improvements that can help the environment.

Recycling is a win-win strategy that not only helps save the planet, but also saves you in the rubbish.  But do you know the correct item recycling? From the cap to the spray cans, maybe you still do not know the following things are recyclable.