What CAN go in the Yellow Lid Recycle Bin?

Paper and Cardboard:

Telephone directories, newspapers, magazines, cardboard, cereal and food boxes (not contaminated with food or oil), office paper, letters, envelopes (including window envelopes)

Pizza boxes, paper bags or cardboard boxes containing food also need special treatment before putting them into your recycling bin.

Take out all food items before recycling and remember if the cardboard/paper box or paper bag is too soiled or greasy it cannot be recycled.

Plastics:

All hard plastic containers, juice bottles, milk bottles, yoghurt containers, plastic meat and vegetable trays and plant pots (remove the dirt).

Remove plastic bottle lids because they are usually made from different materials to the bottle itself.

All small pieces of hard plastics (not including foams or expanded polystyrene) should be collected in a clear PET container.  This ensures NAWMA’s other recycling streams like paper and cardboard are not contaminated and therefore more of these can be recycled.  It also means that the small plastic items do not escape into the environment and cause pollution and injure wildlife.

Glass:

Empty glass bottles and jars - sauce and juice bottles, all clear, green and amber (brown) glass bottles and jars are suitable for recycling.

Remove the lids - steel jar lids can be recycled, but remove them before you put them in the recycling bin.

Rinse out containers, jars and bottles before putting them in your recycling bin. They don't have to be spotless, just give them a quick clean.

Don't forget that you can also take most drink containers to your local recycling depot to get your deposit back.

Check the label to confirm that the deposit applies in South Australia.

Cartons:

Empty milk, juice, custard and stock cartons are all recyclable.

Aluminium and Steel:

Empty steel cans, aluminium soft drink cans, clean aluminium foil and pie trays, empty aerosol cans, oil and paint cans (empty and dry).

Give cans a quick rinse - they don't need to be spotless or have the label removed. Put steel lids inside other steel cans and squash the open top to prevent other waste types getting in the tin.

Clean aluminium foil and trays (rolled into fist-sized balls)

What CANNOT go in the Yellow Lid Recycle Bin?

Plastic Bags, Bin Liners and Cling Film:

Don't place plastic bags in the recycling bin or put recycling materials inside plastic bags. These plastics can get wrapped around the sorting equipment and damage it.

Polystyrene Foam:

This includes the spongy black foam trays in which some meat and vegetables come pre-packed at supermarkets.

Garden Waste:

Prunings, twigs, leaves, small branches and lawn clippings. Kitchen food scraps.

You can compost these at home or put into the organics  bin.

Food Scraps:

47% of Australia's household waste is made up of organic waste like food scraps and garden cuttings. That's a huge amount of waste.

These must go in the organics bin or consider investing in a compost bin, bokashi bin or worm farm to make good use of your organic waste and keep it out of landfill. See website for further information.

Clothing and Linen:

Help out a charity by donating unwanted clothing and linen that is still in good condition.

Disposable Nappies:

These must go in the general waste bin.

Syringes:

Use a proper sharps container. These can be purchased from the council office or the chemist and can be disposed of in the bins at the Council offices.

Crockery, Ceramics, Cookware, Broken Glass, Window Glass, Pyrex

Don't put oven-proof glass, drinking glasses or ceramic mugs in your bin. Just 25g of oven-proof glass can contaminate one tonne of normal glass, making it useless for recycling.

Printer Cartridges

Recycle your printer cartridges. The ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' program recycles participating brands of cartridges Australia-wide.

Gas Cylinders and Fire Extinguishers:

Not recyclable and cannot go in general waste bins.

Batteries

Deliver them to the RRC or Council and Library Offices for recycling via the Battery stewardship program.