Embracing Recycling

Recycling saves money! Landfill gate fees and the landfill levy are increasing and recycling reduces your waste disposal costs. Identifying the materials you can recycle, designing an effective in-house system and engaging your waste contractor, will get you on the road to reducing the waste you send to landfill!

What can be recycled

• Metals - aluminium, steel and non-ferrous metals (e.g. brass, bronze)
• Construction and demolition materials - concrete, asphalt, bricks, soil, sand, plasterboard, rock
• Paper & cardboard - cardboard, paper, newsprint, office and printing paper, magazines and mixed paper
• Organics - timber, food waste, garden waste, sawdust
• Glass - glass containers (e.g. bottles), sheet glass, laminated glass (e.g. windscreens)
• Plastics - pallet and shrink wraps, film plastics, high density polyethylene, PET, low density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, PVC, composite plastics (e.g. ABS)
• Rubber
• Textiles
• Office equipment - e.g. toner and print cartridges

Designing an effective recycling system

Must be easy to use and keep waste from recycling bins and vice versa. To ensure the success of your system:

• Clearly label both the recycling and waste bins
• Place waste bins next to recycling bins so people don't throw the wrong thing in the wrong bin
• Periodically reinforce with staff, employees, contractors and cleaners the purpose of bins and what can be recycled
• Involve staff and employees in the design and implementation of the system
• Regularly monitor the recycling system, recording quantities of waste and recyclables collected, levels of contamination (i.e. waste in the recycling and vice versa), and report the results so everyone can see their progress. 

Engaging waste contracting services

Waste management contractors are no longer just the company that takes your business's waste to landfill. Getting the economics and logistics right can make it cheaper both for your business and the waste contractor to transport those waste materials to a recycler rather than to landfill.

Speak to your contractor for:

• the services they can provide
• advice on what materials can be recycled
• advice on creating workplace recycling systems

Top | Last updated 31/08/2006