Are you an indecisive bin hoverer? 

Someone who pauses with your plastic containers and cartons on bin night, not entirely confident which items can be recycled in your yellow or blue bins?

Most of us want to do the right thing when it comes to rubbish and recycling, but it’s not always easy to Bin it Right.

As a community, we’re some of the best binners in Sydney.  

But mis-binning has a big impact on the success of our household bin system. Putting recyclable items in the red bins means they'll likely go to landfill and not be recycled. 

So, get a confidence boost and stop the indecisive bin hover with these simple top tips on how to Bin it Right:

Bin it Yellow 

Plastic, glass and metal containers and packaging from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry go in the yellow bin. 

This includes steel and aluminium cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic milk containers, fresh milk and juice cartons, fruit   punnets and clean non-styrofoam meat trays

Empty undamaged aerosols can also go in the yellow bin; there’s no need to remove spray nozzle.

Bin it Blue

Boxes, cardboard and paper should all be placed in the blue bin.

Lightly soiled pizza boxes can also go in (but not with food scraps)

Toilet paper rolls (the cardboard tube) also have a home in the blue bin.

Remember, when binning blue or yellow, keep it loose and unbag before you bin; plastic bags and soft plastics can’t be recycled in your bins. Just one pesky plastic bag could mean your bag full of recycling goes to landfill. 

Bin it Red

Keep this to a minimum, as most of the red bin goes to landfill.

There are some items however that need to go in the red bin because they're made of mixed materials and can't be       recycled in our the system, including:

• Greaseproof paper
• coffee cups and lids 
• thermally printed receipts
• tissues and paper towels
• long life cartons for milk, stock and juice containers.  

Don’t Bin it

Batteries or anything with a hidden battery, plus gas canisters, butane and chemicals don’t belong in your household bins, so take them to a drop off spot. 

Still unsure? Check the A-Z Guide to reuse, recycling and disposal or explore this map for local reuse and recycling locations. 

Get reuse and recycling tips and refresh your bin smarts with quick and easy to access resources on how to Bin it Right.