Some tips for boosting your recycling performance include:
1. Start to build a culture of recycling for you and your household. For example:
- If you buy bottled or canned drinks while you are out, bring the empties home with you and put them in your council recycling bin (unless the shopping centre or area you are in has designated recycling bins)
- Electronic or e-waste such as computers, TVs, mobile phones, portable entertainment systems, batteries, printer cartridges and many other items are a huge part of our lives in the 21st century, so always look for recycling and safe disposal options in your area. Often retail outlets including office supply chains, post offices, some bank branches etc will have collection bins for products such as mobile phones, printer cartridges etc
2. Other ideas:
- Put a ‘No Junk Mail’ or ‘No Advertising Material’ sticker on your letter box to reduce clutter and waste
- Find charity bins for any clothing you no longer want and can’t swap with others
- Use an internet search engine to look for community and commercial recycling services. Search the phrase ‘recycling near you’ and also combine product types (e.g. ‘mobile phones’ or ‘computers’ ) with the word ‘recycling’
- Ask your local council for everything you need to know about the kerbside collection system and how best to use it, and also other recycling drop-off points in your area e.g. for e-waste, paint, green waste etc
- If you take loads to your local tip, take the time to put anything that can be recycled in the right drop-off areas
- Get to know recycling symbols and codes, especially for plastics
NOTE: Measuring CO2 linked to all of the 'waste' items we generate in and out of our homes is a complicated exercise. although we know much of what we discard can be recycled. 1 Million Women has assigned a 'campaign carbon value' of 200kg a year for one person for this very important activity, based on a conservative interpretation of our research into the carbon savings that aware consumers can make by focusing on recycling opportunities. If you take responsibility for leading this activity for more people in your household, we add on 100kg a year for each extra person.
Why is it important?
The recycling industry is estimated to generate about $10 billion a year in economic activity in Australia, including supporting thousands of direct and indirect jobs. The more you recycle the more carbon and other pollution you’ll be reducing - and the national economy will benefit as well.
Nothing that can be recycled should be going into landfill.
Best of all, everyone can help to save energy and resources and to cut pollution in simple ways. Here's an easy-to-do tip published by the Australian Government: When out walking, collect discarded containers (for example, bottles and aluminium cans). Recycling a shopping bag full of containers saves at least five kilograms of greenhouse gas and reduces litter.