Recycling solutions

If you have old clothes that you want recycled, don’t throw them into a clothing recycling bin. Consider textile sorting facilities like Upparel, Rcycl and After or take-back schemes offered by some retailers. They will sort through your items and send them to textile recyclers if appropriate. 

It is well known that items like paper, glass, aluminium, steel and plastic are recyclable through our household recycling bin. But you can also recycle items like metals, clothing, shoes, toys, electronics, stationery, batteries, mattresses, beauty product packaging and much more.

Like a lot of things in this sustainable living space, when it came to buying recycling bins for my home there were no buying guides for Australians. It took a lot of searching to find what was available in Australia. To find products that were high quality, would do the job and not break the bank.

Bin lids come in different colours and typically represent a different waste stream. In Australia, you will find red, yellow, lime green, blue, burgundy, and purple lids offered by local councils. The body of the bin can be any colour and typically does not represent a waste stream.

Old cooking pots and pans typically can not go in your household recycling bin. However that does not mean they need to go in landfill – many are made from recyclable materials like steel, aluminium, iron and copper, which scrap metal yards will happily accept for recycling.

You are able to recycle metal lids and bottle caps in your household recycling bin. You just need to ensure the material is relatively clean and smaller items are bundled together with items made from the same material. Or you could collect them and take them to a scrap metal yard for recycling.

Recycling Household Metallic Objects – A Complete Guide This post was last updated in 2023 Recycling household metallic objects is something we can all do. By diverting metal waste from landfills and reducing the need for raw materials extraction, you can play a crucial role in conserving natural resources.   While recycling options for steel and

If you’re wondering if shoes can be put into your household recycling bin, the answer is no – no matter what your shoes are made from, whether it be plastic, leather or rubber, shoes can not go in your regular recycling bin. However, this does not mean that shoes need to go into landfill.

Whether old prescription glasses can be recycled depends on the materials used. Typically metal and plastic glass frames can be recycled, as can glass and plastic lenses. Because of the mix of materials used, it’s best to rely on a sorting facility to work out what can be recovered.

Yes, you can recycle old clothes. Old clothing can be shredded and used for other purposes or broken down to its base form, turned into yarn and used to make other textiles. And there are companies in Australia that can do this.

Clothing and textiles do not go into your household recycling bin. If you want to ensure your clothes are recycled, your best option is to send them to organisations that collect clothing for recycling, such as Upparel, Rcycl, After and retailers that have a take back program in place.

Thankfully the world of shoe recycling is expanding and there are several places where you can recycle your old and worn-out shoes in Australia. If you want to know where you can recycle shoes in Australia, here is a list of places where you can recycle shoes:
(1) Upparel
(2) Treadlightly
(3) Save Our Soles
These businesses do not act alone but they have partnered with big and medium-sized retailers to bring recycling to you – from Target to Susan to Rebel and Nike. The list is long and links to them can be found below. So if you want to know more about shoe recycling in Australia, keep reading.

In general, depending on where you live, greasy pizza boxes can go in your recycling bin and tetrapaks can be recycled. Frozen food boxes, paper bags and paper egg cartons are generally recyclable. Containers that come in contact with food and coffee cups can not go in your recycling bin.

In summary paper can be recycled even if it has contaminants like staples, plastic windows and sticky tape, provided the level of contaminants not is excessive. Other problematic items include certain types of wrapping paper, tissues and receipts. Shredded paper can be recycled when done right.