Recycling and Waste

Since 2019, fluorescent tubes and lamps have been banned from landfill in Victoria. With increased awareness about proper recycling, we can hope to see a significant reduction in these harmful items ending up in the environment. Why should we be recycling fluorescent tubes and lamps? Fluorescent tubes and H.I.D lamps contain mercury. The level of…

Throughout Melbourne and in Australia overall we see a variety of colours and styles of waste and recycling bins. 2006 saw the introduction of the Australian Standard for mobile bin colours (AS4123.7-2006) which brought more consistencies across the board.  Thinking about what we have in place in Australia, I thought it would be an interesting…

The first cab of the ranks for the PREP system has been the well-known Australian brand, Blackmores. In November of last year the Australian Recycling Label was launched in NSW with Planet Ark, Blackmores and the NSW Environment Minister, Mark Speakman. Hopefully this will be the start of seeing this label all over the country.

Confused about what can and cannot be recycled? Look no further, there is now a brand now App that can help you out. The new free RecycleSmart App is Australia’s most comprehensive recycling App which draws data from the RecyclingNearYou site for every Australian council and allows users to easily search for information about how…

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Following on from our article regarding the responsible disposal of e-waste, here’s a bit of an outline on what happens after your e-waste is collected for recycling. Please note: this is the process used at one supplier we use. Process may differ depending on the facility.  The e-waste recycling process: A combination of crushers, shredders, density…

Wouldn’t it be handy if you could quickly find out how best to dispose of household items that you might be unsure about? Well look no further, now you can! Sustain Me – Recycling App A couple of clever local entrepreneurs have worked hard to develop a recycling app called ‘Sustain Me’ that Melbourne users…

In 2013 Sustainability Victoria undertook bin audits throughout Victoria to take a look at the sorts of things thrown into household bins. Below is an infographic representing the garbage bin composition by weight as percentage:   So by the looks of things nearly half of the contents of our home bins could be recycled or…

Back in January we covered off a couple of unlikely items that can be recycled thanks to the organisation Terracycle. Now Terracycle offers even more recycling programmes for unlikely items. We all use toothpaste, toothbrushes etc and probably don’t even think twice about throwing the tubes and brushes into our bin headed for landfill. But…

While most office paper can be recycled I think we would all agree that printing things unnecessarily is wasteful. Here are some quick tips on how you can save paper in the office: Think before you print or post! Ask yourself the questions – ‘do I really need this paperwork?’ and ‘could this be emailed…

According to the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA), e-waste in Australia can be defined as waste electrical and electronics equipment including: televisions computers mobile phones kitchen appliances whitegoods batteries (including rechargeable batteries) photovoltaic panels. The Victorian Government implemented a ban on e-waste disposal in landfills across Victoria, effective from 1 July 2019. E-waste is increasing…