Recycling tips

Hard or rigid plastic is sorted, baled and sent to be recycled into new products like bottles, polar fleece or carpet. 

Hard plastic is any plastic that maintains its shape or bounces back into shape when you try and scrunch it in your hand.

Only hard plastics with a 1, 2 or 5 code inside the recycling symbol go into your recycling bin. The recycling symbol presents as a triangle formed by 3 circling arrows.

Do recycle

• milk bottles (remove lids and place in general rubbish bin)
• soft drink bottles (remove lids and place in general rubbish bin)
• ice cream tubs and lids
• takeaway containers and lids
• laundry and bathroom bottles (lids larger than a credit card can go in your recycling bin)

Don't recycle

• batteries or electronics - take them to a battery recycling drop off 
• plastic bags or any soft plastic any plastic that loses its shape when you scrunch it into a ball, including plastic wrap, bread bags, pasta packets, muesli bar wrappers and chip bags
• plastic lids smaller than a credit card
• black coloured plastics
• polystyrene also known as Styrofoam
• disposable coffee cups and lids
• foil-lined packaging long life juice or milk, such as Tetra Pak® containers

For a full list of disposal and recycling options see our A-Z waste and recycling guide.

Do recycle

• office paper
• envelopes
• egg cartons
• newspapers and magazines.
• pizza boxes (must be empty)
• clean paper towel and napkins

Don't recycle

• shredded paper
• nappies
• laminated paper/receipt paper/thermal paper
• used tissues, napkins or paper towel
• disposable coffee cups
• tetra paks

Do recycle

• glass jars (unscrew lids and place in recycling separately)
• glass bottles (unscrew lids and place in recycling separately)

Don't recycle

• broken glass of any kind
• drinking glasses - donate if still usable, put in general waste if broken
• perfume, cosmetics and medicine
• household glass (such as vases) - donate if still usable, put in general waste if broken
• Pyrex™ - donate if still usable, put in general waste if broken
• mirrors - donate if still usable, put in general waste if broken
• ceramics and crockery - donate if still usable, put in general waste if broken

Do recycle

• cans - should be empty, but they don't need to be totally clean
• tins - should be empty, but they don't need to be totally clean
• foil trays - should be empty, but they don't need to be totally clean
• aluminium foil - rolled as large as a golf ball
• aerosol cans - make sure they're empty and remove plastic cap
• lids - from jam jars or bottles

Don't recycle

• coat hangers
• cutlery

Instead, place food scraps and green waste in yourgreen waste bin. For food waste, consider composting, bokashi and worms farms.

We are unable to recycle fabric or clothing. In saying that, there are ways to reduce waste such asdonating or selling clothingif they're in good condition or need minor repairing.

Light globes don't go in your recycling bin, but they can be taken to a community recycling station. Check out the Darebin recycling facilities available to you.

Electrical goods should never be placed in the recycling bin or general waste bin. Electrical goods can cause fires to your bin or the trucks that collect them. Find out more about your options to safely recycle electronic waste based on the item.

Also consider if it's worth fixing a broken item to keep, sell or donate.

Up to 10 household smoke detectors can be disposed of in your household general waste bin. Please remove any batteries before disposing of them.

For more than 10 smoke detectors, seek advice from the Department of Health.

Make sure you put your recycling in the bin loosely.

If your recycling is in bags, the sorting facility may not sort it for you.

Squeeze, squash and flatten your recycling to fit more in your bin.

Don't put the wrong items in the recycling bin. It may not be collected if there are incorrect items inside.

You can scrape any food and liquid out of containers and bottles, but you don't need to rinse them clean.