Changes to the yellow-lidded bin

For most councils in the Perth Metropolitan Area, there have been changes regarding what can and can’t be recycled in your yellow-topped bin. These changes are part of an effort to try and reduce contamination and make recycling easier for everyone to understand.

By having a clear and consistent range of recycling items, it not only makes it easier to understand which bin to put it in, but in the long term will lead to better outcomes for recycling in Western Australia.

What are the major changes?

Aerosols can no longer be placed in the yellow-lidded bin.

While Aerosol cans are made from recyclable materials, they can pose a risk to staff and equipment during the process of collecting and separating the contents of your recycling bins.Aerosol cans are classified as household hazardous waste (HHW) and instead of being placed in your kerbside recycling bins, should be taken to your local HHW disposal site.

Other HHW items include paint and paint tins, batteries, gas cylinders, fluorescent tubes and chemicals and should not go into any of your household bins. These items can be disposed of at no charge at several collection sites around Perth. To find your closest drop off location go to Find My Nearest.

Soft (or scrunchable) plastics can no longer be placed into the yellow-topped recycling bin

Soft, scrunchable plastics like plastic bags, bread bags, plastic wrappers and glad wrap are difficult products to recycle through a kerbside recycling bin and often get mixed up with other lightweight streams like paper at the recovery facility, causing contamination of other materials such as paper and cardboard.

The best option that is currently available for these types of plastics is to gather them together and take them to a RedCycle drop off bin, which are located at most major supermarkets. RedCycle collects clean soft plastics from drop off points around the country and works with Australian manufacturer Replas to turn this material into a range of recycled plastic products.

A good test to see if it’s a soft plastic is the ‘scrunch test’ – if you can scrunch the plastic item up into a ball then it can be taken to a soft plastic drop off bin. You can check the full list of items RedCycle accepts and find your closest drop off at www.redcycle.net.au.

Only the following items should be placed into the yellow-top recycling bin:

All items should be placed clean, dry and empty with lids removed and placed in the bin loosely.

Do not place the following items into your recycling bin:

X Plastic bags X Plastic film X Nappies X Clothes and textiles X Garden and food waste X Gas bottles X Aerosol cans X Electronic waste X Batteries X Ropes, cables and hose X Materials in bags X Meat trays