Mixed recycling bin

What can go in your mixed recycling bin?

Put your recycling in the bin loose, not in bags.

Items must be empty and should be lightly rinsed.

Cardboard boxes and bulky items should be flattened.

Glass no longer goes in this bin.

Please put only these items in your mixed recycling bin:

• Cardboard and office paper
• newspapers and magazines
• phone books
• books (with covers removed)
• Egg cartons
• pizza boxes (with no food waste)
• single use / disposable paper dinnerware (plates and bowls, with no food waste)
• milk and juice cartons (refrigerated only, not long-life cartons)
• aluminium foil, trays and cans (remove any food, scrunch foil into a ball)
• steel cans (empty)
• aerosol cans (empty with plastic nozzle removed)
• paint tins / cans (empty)
• rigid plastic packaging including bottles and containers
• small plastic plant pots
  
  

What can't go in your mixed recycling bin?

Thank you for keeping these items out of your mixed recycling bin:

• batteries - take these to a household battery recycling drop off point which you can find on our Recycling stations page
• flexible soft plastics (plastic bags, bread or pasta bags, plastic wrap) - take these to your local supermarket for recycling

• glass bottles and jars (clear, green and amber) - put these in your glass recycling bin or drop-off point

• any items in plastic bags
• long-life milk, soy milk, and juice cartons (foil-lined cardboard packaging)
• expanded polystyrene packaging (cups, plates, and trays)
• clothing, shoes, or blankets
• nappies
• food waste or garden waste - put these in your food and garden organics bin
• toys
• drinking glasses, ceramics, or Pyrex
• single-use / disposable cups (includes plastic, paper, and bio-cups)
• single-use / disposable plastic dinnerware (plates, bowls, and cutlery)
• napkins, tissues, paper towel or shredded paper - place these items in your compost bin or worm farm
• general rubbish

Not sure how to dispose of a particular item? Look it up in our A-Z guide to waste and recycling.  

• Why can’t I put my recycling in plastic bags?

  In 2021, 17% of Victorians put their recycling in plastic bags, making it a major contaminant in household recycling bins.
  
  Recycling in plastic bags cannot be sorted at material recovery facilities because they can damage equipment by getting caught in the machines and present a health and safety risk to staff who sort recycling as the contents of the bag are not visible and may include sharp objects.
  
  Contamination occurs when items that can’t be recycled are placed in the recycling bin. These non-recyclable items, also called contaminants, can prevent recycling from being processed and turned into new products.

• Why is it important to recycle right?

  Putting the wrong items in your recycling bin makes the service more expensive. It can also mean that truckloads of recycling may have to go to landfill. Contaminated recycling can be a fire hazard and may be dangerous for workers sorting waste at the Material Recovery Facility.
  
  Not sure how to dispose of a particular item? Look it up in our A-Z guide to waste and recycling. 

• Why aren't soft plastics collected by council for recycling?

  Soft plastics are things such as single-use shopping bags, bread bags, pasta and rice bags and plastic wrap. If it can be scrunched into a ball, it is a soft plastic.

  Our recycling processor, Visy, do not accept soft plastics through the kerbside collection for recycling as there is currently no market demand for them, meaning there are very few manufacturers that turn soft plastics into new products.

  You can, however, take your soft plastics and plastic bags to a redcycle collection bin at your local Coles or Woolworths supermarket. Redcycle work with other manufacturers to turn soft plastics into a range of products including new park furniture, bollards, garden edging and road base.

  Go to the redcycle website to find out more about how to recycle soft plastics.

• What happens to your mixed recycling?

  After your recycling is picked up at the kerbside it is taken to Visy's Material Recovery Facility for sorting into six material streams: paper, cardboard, plastic, steel, aluminium, and glass.

  Once sorted, materials are transported to different areas of the Visy business for recovery and/or remanufacturing. Paper, cardboard, plastic, steel, and aluminium are turned into new recycled packaging by Visy.

  Go to the Visy website to learn more about what happens to your recycling when it leaves your bin.