How can we recycle our plastic?

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products.

Items that can be recycled:

.Paper: office paper, magazines, newspapers and junk mail

Cardboard

.Green, clear and brown glass bottles and jars

.Juice and milk cartons

.All plastic bottles and containers marked, but no lids please

.Steel (tin) and aluminium cans and empty aerosols

Items that cannot be recycled:

Plastic bags or recyclables inside plastic bags

Takeaway coffee cups http://www.netwaste.org.au/recycle-it/what-can-be-recycled/

Disposable nappies

Garden waste

Polystyrene (foam)

Bubble wrap

Syringes or medical waste

Dead animals

Oils

Ceramics, ovenware or light bulbs

Recycling reduces the need for extracting, refining and processing raw materials all of which create air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change.

When plastic bottles are recycled they can be made into lots of things: t-shirts, sweaters, fleece jackets, insulation for jackets and sleeping bags, carpeting and more bottles.

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste.