Residents of Hobsons Bay can now recycle plastics with code number 5 in their mixed recycling yellow bin. It's one of the latest service improvements for Recycling 2.0, Council's kerbside collection service.
Council and our recycling partner, Australian Paper Recovery (APR), have successfully secured an end market for the plastic 5s. This is part of Council's ongoing commitment, following the launch of Recycling 2.0, to expand opportunities for plastics to be locally processed into new products in order to continue improving our recycling outcomes.
Plastics with code number 5 (which indicates the resin type is polypropylene) can include household items such as ice cream, margarine, and yoghurt containers.
Hobsons Bay will now locally recycle plastics: 1, 2 and 5. Each type of plastic is processed differently and has its own specific end market.
Plastic code 1 (PET) bottles are re-made into new bottles.
Plastic code 2 (HDPE) bottles are remade into plastic bollards, pallets for transporting and securing cargo, fence or barrier railing and decking board.
Plastic code 5 (PP) containers are remade into new food-grade containers and casing around electric cabling.
Some quick reminders about our recycling:
- All containers must be rinsed and have their lids removed before placing them in the recycling bin. Many lids are made using mixed plastics or a slightly different process, which makes them unsuitable for our recycling. Place lids in the rubbish bin.
- Some packaging with the code numbers 1, 2 and 5 is thinned out to form a particular shape, which makes it unsuitable for our recycling end markets. This includes fruit punnets and meat trays and these items should go in your rubbish bin.
- Soft plastics, such as carry bags, cereal liners, magazine wrap, bubble wrap and bread bags, are usually plastic code 4. These can't go in the recycling bin, but they can be recycled by REDcycle (redcycle.net.au) at participating supermarkets.
If residents are in any doubt about whether an item can be recycled, try downloading the new Hobsons Bay Recycling 2.0 App, where the answer can be found through our interactive feature, Which bin does this go in?. The free App is available on the App Store and Google Play or find it on Council's website at hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/recycling.
As noted by Hobsons Bay Mayor Cr Colleen Gates
"With the steady closure of overseas markets for Australia's plastics, we will continue to find local recycling outcomes for your kerbside materials, and expand the list of items accepted into the yellow recycling bin."
"Being able to recycle more plastics is great, but we can also reduce the amount of plastic we bring home by being more selective (where possible) on our supermarket choices such as purchasing items in glass or cans or minimal amounts of packaging."
"It's important we continue to support our waste management partners by putting the right items in the right bin. The waste management workers can sort our recycling but they can't sort our rubbish."
