16 January 2013 - Recycling symbols

Recently I received some Christmas presents from my sister who's living over in the UK and I was excited to find some different, and very straightforward, recycling symbols on the packaging of the gifts (Sis I was obviously more excited about the actual gifts than just their potential for package recycling! Love you and thank you!).

The three neat little symbols I encountered (pictured to the left) made the process of disposing of the packaging really easy for a recycling novice like me. In Australia there is just the one recycling symbol and then the various plastic number indicators which confuse me to no end. I decided I'd like to create a little chart for myself to keep on the fridge with information about my local recycling scheme that will help me to stay on track with my recycling goals for the year.

So I looked on the local council website and the information regarding what can be recycled for my area is:

- Paper, newspaper, magazines, junk mail
- Cardboard boxes and cardboard packaging
- Milk and juice cartons
- Pizza boxes
- Glass bottles and jars
- Aluminium (drink) cans
- Steel (food) cans
- Aerosol cans
- Rigid plastic bottles and containers (no Styrofoam)
- NO PLASTIC BAGS

That sounds simple enough to follow. I'd like to have a copy hanging in the kitchen as well - that encourages any guests to follow the recycling scheme while they're in our home as well.

I put a challenge out to readers to take a moment to research their local recycling scheme. You might be surprised by what you are sending to landfill that could be recycled or what you are attempting to recycle that can't be done in your local area. I read on the council site too that in our area all recycling has to be sorted by hand (so keep it clean!) and that if the percentage of regular waste in the bin is too high the whole bin will just be sent to the landfill. So it's important for us to try to get these things right while we can.

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