Plastic Bags
In Australia, 80 million plastic bags end
up as litter every year. Many more will end up in landfills, taking up
valuable space and preventing the plastic from being recovered and recycled
into new products.
If plastic bags are placed in kerbside recycling bins, they can damage
machines inside sorting facilities and even cause some machines to break
down, which could prevent other materials from being recycled.
For waste being processed in an ARRT,
valuable resources in waste that has been tied up in multiple plastic bags
can be hard to recover. By keeping as few layers as possible between the
bin liner and the waste you put in it, you can make the contents more accessible
for separation and resource recovery. This keeps more waste out of landfill
and more valuable materials in active use, which in turn eases demand for
raw materials. Contact your Council to find out whether your waste is being
processed in an ARRT or sent to landfill.
Will SITA Environmental Solutions accept my plastic bags?
We will only accept hard or rigid plastics, such as bottles and containers.
Plastic bags are not accepted at our Waste & Recycling Centres and
should never be placed in kerbside recycling or garden organics bins.
Plastic bags placed in recycling bins can become tangled in sorting machinery,
potentially causing breakdowns, or even fires, and hindering the recycling
process for other materials. Plastic bags placed in garden organics bins
contaminate this waste stream and any compost produced from it.
What else can I do with my plastic bags?
Many supermarkets have special plastic bag recycling bins near the customer
entry. Plastic bags placed in these bins can be recycled because they don't
need to be sorted and separated from other types of recycling.
Plastic bags placed in these recycling bins must be clean. Be careful to
check which bags are accepted as some bins accept only the light LDPE grocery
shopping bags, while others may also accept heavier plastics.
If you cannot find a supermarket that will accept your plastic bags for
recycling, your household garbage bin is the next best place to dispose
of them.
To reduce the number of plastic bags you use, you can consider the following:
- If you're only buying a couple of items, consider carrying them and refuse a plastic bag.
- When shopping, take alternatives to plastic bags with you, such as calico bags, baskets or boxes. Keep a folded up reusable bag in your handbag or keep several in the car.
