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.