What Can Go In My Bin?

Please only put acceptable items in your bins.  Non-accepted items should be taken to an appropriate Transfer Station.

Recycle Mate

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Council’s Bin Tagging Program

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 Which Bin?

Click here to view what items can be put into recycling bins.

FAQ’s

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Tips

Need the some extra tips to get it right?

Max’s Recycling Tips

Watch how easy recycling is with local recycler Max.

What goes in your yellow bin? 

Recycling is a great way to make a positive impact on the world around us and ensure a more sustainable future for generations to come.

By following these simple rules, you can help to conserve natural resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and decrease the need for new landfills.

Let’s Get it Sorted with these five materials you can recycle in your yellow lid bin.

  • Glass bottles and jars – beverage bottles, jam jars and sauce bottles, juice bottles and oil bottles.
  • Paper and cardboard – egg cartons, pizza boxes, glossy magazines, toilet rolls, cereal boxes, juice and milk cartons, wrapping paper and newspapers.
  • Hint, if the bottom of the pizza box is too greasy, break up the box and recycle the clean sections.
  • Hard plastic containers – milk bottles, shampoo bottles, ice cream tubs, fruit punnets, detergent and soap bottles.
  • Steel containers – canned food tins and pet food tins.
  • Aluminium – drink cans, empty aerosols, pie trays and foil from the kitchen, which should be scrunched into a ball.

What can not go in your yellow bin? 

These items should never be put in your yellow lid bin:

  • Soft Plastics
  • Bagged recyclables
  • Food or garden waste
  • Clothes and textiles
  • Rigid plastics
  • Batteries and hazardous waste
  • Other types of glass
  • E-waste

Did you know that when these items are placed in your yellow lid bin it may mean your recycling goes to landfill? These contaminants can also damage the sorting machines and create safety problems for workers.

Tips for getting it sorted

Keep it clean

Scrape out all food containers and pizza boxes before they go into the yellow lid bin.

If you’re unsure, give it a quick rinse.  This helps prevent contamination and ensures that the recycling process runs smoothly.

Make sorting simple

Keep a separate sorting basket for recyclables in your kitchen, laundry and bathroom.

Some items are made up of recyclable and non-recyclable materials, separate soft plastics coverings from food packaging to ensure more items can be recycled.

Keep it loose

Don’t put your recyclables in a bag or bin liner as they may end up in landfill.

Keep your recycling loose when it goes into your yellow lid bin.

Keeping it loose also means recycling can be sorted and processed more easily and efficiently.

Alternative disposal

Many household items like old clothes, toys and batteries are not suitable for recycling through your yellow lid bin, but can be recycled through a range of alternative disposal programs offered by community organisations and retailers.

Where does it go by item

Lids

Small lids (smaller than a credit card) which are a different material to the bottle they are attached to, such as a metal lid on a glass bottle, must go into the general waste bin. Alternatively, they can be reused for arts and crafts or other reuse activities, contact one of our local kindergartens or schools to see if they could utilise them.

Larger lids (larger than a credit card) which are made of the same material as the container they are attached to, such as the lid of an ice cream container, can stay on the clean container and be put into the yellow lid bin.

Please do not put small lids into the yellow lid bin. They are too small for the sorting machinery to process.

Soft plastics

If you can scrunch it in your hands, then it’s a soft plastic. This includes food packaging, plastic film, bags and bin liners.

Soft plastics can cause contamination and may lead to recyclable materials being sent to landfill.

Currently, Queenslanders don’t have access to soft plastic recycling via supermarket retailers. Please put soft plastics in the general waste bin or avoid them altogether.

In the meantime, try to reduce your plastic usage and consider purchasing products that are not packaged in plastic.

Food and garden waste

Food scraps and garden waste can’t go in the yellow lid bin and should be composted at home or put into the general waste bin. A flyer on how to set up and use a home composting system can be found here: Sustainable Waste Management – Douglas Shire Council

Green waste can be taken to some of Council’s Transfer Stations, see facilities and acceptance criteria here: Douglas Waste Recycling Facilities | Douglas Shire Council

Clothes and textiles

Clothing and other household textiles like towels, blankets and sheets can’t be recycled through your yellow lid bin.

There are a lot of things you can do to keep these out of landfill and in circulation, such as selling or donating unwanted clothes or repurposing old clothes and textiles into cleaning rags and donating old towels to your local animal shelter or hospital.

Find out more on Recycle Mate: Recycle Mate – Douglas Shire Council

Rigid plastics

Items around your home made of hard/rigid plastic such as old toys, kitchenware, plant pots and industrial materials like PVC piping can’t be recycled through your yellow lid bin.

Use an alternative disposal option for hard/rigid plastics.  If this is not an option, or they are at the end of their life, hard/rigid plastics should be placed in your general waste bin or taken to one of Council’s Transfer Station (fees may apply).

Paint and household chemicals

Paint and household chemicals can be dangerous when disposed of incorrectly. They contain toxic substances that are harmful to you and the environment. They should never be poured down the drain or into waterways. Domestic quantities (under 20L per visit, in the original container and clearly labelled) are accepted at Council’s Transfer Stations: Douglas Waste Recycling Facilities | Douglas Shire Council.

Batteries

Batteries contain valuable resources which, if recycled correctly, can be reused, helping the environment and the economy.

Batteries should never be placed in your general waste bin or recycle bin, as they can cause fires in the bins or the trucks that collect them.

Safe disposal options for battery disposal can be found here: Find a B-cycle Drop off point – B-cycle (bcycle.com.au)

E-waste

E-waste, or electronic waste is one of the fastest growing household waste items in Australia.

However, these items contain valuable resources that can be recovered and recycled.

E-waste should never be placed in the general waste bin or recycle bin as they contain toxic chemicals such as lead, cadmium and mercury that are bad for the environment and hazardous to human health.

E-waste is accepted at all of Council’s Transfer Stations under the E-Waste Recycling Australia stewardship scheme.

  • Acceptable items include:
  • All types of TVs
  • Computers & tablets
  • Printers, faxes, scanners and multi-functional devices
  • Computer accessories.

For further information please visit the E-Waste Recycling Australia website.

Other types of glass

Don’t put glassware in the yellow lid bin. This can contaminate other recyclables, as this type of glass melts at a different temperature compared to bottles and jars which have previously contained food or liquid.

Glass from household items like drinking glasses, window glass, pyrex and any other glass which has not contained food or liquid, should be placed in the general waste bin.

Frequently Asked Questions

Rinsing – do I need to rinse before recycling?

Food containers, pizza boxes and all other items need to be empty and have scraps removed before they go into the yellow lid bin.

If you are unsure, it’s always a safe option to give other items a quick rinse. This helps to prevent contamination and ensures that the recycling process runs smoothly.

Recycling symbols – which one do I use?

Several different packaging labels are used in Australia, and some items with a recycling symbol cannot be recycled in the yellow lid bin. When considering whether an item can go in the yellow lid bin, ask yourself what the item is made from. If the packaging is made from paper, cardboard, hard plastic, aluminium and steel or glass, it is likely it can be recycled.

Use Recycle Mate to determine what to do with the item: Recycle Mate – Douglas Shire Council.

Can any plastic item with a triangle recycling symbol go into our yellow lid bin?

The plastic resin codes (the triangle with a number inside) that are widely used across Australia, indicate the plastic type, not necessarily if it can be recycled.

Use Recycle Mate to determine what to do with the item: Recycle Mate – Douglas Shire Council.

I get so much conflicting information about what is recyclable. How do I know what is correct?

Recycle Mate has the back-end information on what is accepted in bins, at transfer stations and at other disposal locations in Douglas. The app can be downloaded and used to take a photo of the item, where the AI will suggest what you can do with it, or a description can be used on Council’s website: Recycle Mate – Douglas Shire Council.

Tetra packs/long life cartons

Tetra packs/long life cartons cannot be put in the yellow lid bin, they must go into general waste.

Can I bag my recyclables?

Please do not put recyclable items in the yellow lid bin inside plastic bags. Recyclable items that are bagged before going into the yellow lid bin may end up in landfill.

Soft plastics – what are they?

If it’s soft and you can scrunch it in your hands, then it’s a soft plastic.  This includes food packaging, chip and chocolate bar wrappers, plastic films and wraps.

Other ways to recycle in my LGA?

Many household items like textiles, batteries, old soft toys, worn out shoes are not suitable for recycling through Council’s kerbside recycling service, but may be recycled through alternative disposal methods. Some retailers and community organisations provide in-store collection bins where you can leave your items free of charge, and they will be recycled into other usable goods.

Check Recycle Mate – Douglas Shire Council or search online to find additional recycling opportunities in your area.

What is wishcycling?

Wishcycling is the practice of putting something in the yellow lid bin in the hope that it will be recycled. Items such as clothing, kitchen glassware, scrap metal, soft plastics and rigid plastics are not suitable for recycling and should be placed in the general waste bin. In general, if an item is not listed on your Council website as recyclable, it is best to put it in the general waste bin.

Glassware – why can’t I put it in the yellow lid bin?

Don’t put any glassware in the yellow lid bin. This can contaminate other recyclables, as this type of glass melts at a different temperature compared to bottles and jars which have previously contained food or liquid.

Glass from household items like drinking glasses, window glass, pyrex and any other glass which has not contained food or liquid, should be placed in the general waste bin.

Batteries

Batteries cannot go in any of your household bins. All batteries are hazardous, from the AAA batteries in your TV remote to your car battery.

They contain toxins harmful to the environment and when placed in a household bin, they can cause fires in the bins or trucks that collect them.

Safe disposal options for battery disposal can be found here: Find a B-cycle Drop off point – B-cycle (bcycle.com.au)

Household chemicals, pesticides and paint

Do not put household chemicals in any of your household bins. They must not be poured down the sink, drain or toilet either. See acceptance criteria of these items at Council’s Transfer Stations: Douglas Waste Recycling Facilities | Douglas Shire Council.

Hazardous waste

Household chemicals, pesticides, paints, batteries and e-waste cannot be put in any of your household bins. They can be very dangerous as they pose a hazard to the environment and a safety risk to workers in the sorting facility. See acceptance criteria of these items at Council’s Transfer Stations: Douglas Waste Recycling Facilities | Douglas Shire Council or check Recycle Mate – Douglas Shire Council for alternative options.

Rigid plastics – what are they?

Items around your home made of hard/rigid plastic such as old toys, kitchenware, plant pots and industrial materials like PVC piping can’t be recycled through your yellow lid bin.

Use an alternative disposal option for rigid plastic items which may be found on Recycle Mate – Douglas Shire Council. If this is not an option, or they are at the end of their life, rigid plastics should be placed in your general waste bin.

Soft plastics – why can’t I put soft plastics in the yellow lid bin?

Soft plastics get caught in the sorting machinery and can damage it. Currently, Queensland does not have any facilities that can process soft plastics for recycling, so it is best to put plastic bags and food wraps into the general waste bin.