How to Recycle in Canberra

The Recycle Right campaign has put together some simple tips to get you recycling right in Canberra and the surrounding region. To see the full information campaign click here.

This is just a basic guide. Find out how to recycle or re-use specific items by looking at the ACT No Waste Recyclopedia.

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Keep it Simple

Only recycle:

  • Hard plastic bottles and containers

  • Glass bottles and jars

  • Steel and aluminium cans

  • Paper and cardboard

It's important to keep other items out of recycling so that the materials can be correctly sorted and reused.

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Keep Out Soft Plastics

  • No soft plastics, including bags, plastic wrapping, chip packets and bread bags

  • No degradable nor biodegradable plastic bags – these belong in the landfill bin

Plastic bags don't belong in the recycling, plastic bags contaminate the recycling stream and get caught in the sorting machinery.

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Keep Out Small Items

Don’t place anything smaller than a credit card into your recycling bin

  • No drink bottle lids (including milk bottle lids)

  • No bread tags

  • No bottle tops

Small items fall through gaps in the recycling machinery and can contaminate our recyclables and glass sand.

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Keep it Safe

Keep it safe for recycling centre workers and machines … which means nothing hazardous that can harm  workers or anything that can damage the machines.

  • No strapping line,

  • No hose,

  • No netting,

  • No wires,

  • No building materials,

  • No broken glass,

  • No chemicals and other hazardous materials

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Keep it Clean

Keep it clean by rinsing or wiping out your containers of any excess food, drink etc.

Keep out:

  • No food scraps

  • No nappies

  • No soiled paper or cardboard

Keeping recyclables clean is important to ensuring they can be processed effectively and are able to be sold in competitive markets. We need to wipe, scrape or rinse out food and drink before placing containers in the recycling bin.

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Keep it Clean

Keep it clean by rinsing or wiping out your containers of any excess food, drink etc.

Keep out:

  • No food scraps

  • No nappies

  • No soiled paper or cardboard

Keeping recyclables clean is important to ensuring they can be processed effectively and are able to be sold in competitive markets. We need to wipe, scrape or rinse out food and drink before placing containers in the recycling bin.

Canberra Enviro