Let’s bust some Recycling Myths
Let’s bust some common recycling myths to help Moonee Valley Recycle Right!
Myth #1: The whole truck load gets sent to landfill if one person in my street isn’t recycling right.
No, recycling will only be sent to landfill if a significant proportion is contaminated, or if the waste in the truck catches fire! When most people are doing the right thing, the recycling is sorted and re-used as it should be.
It is vitally important to keep hazardous waste, e-waste and batteries out of recycling. This is because these are the items that will cause truck loads to catch fire.
Myth #2: It doesn’t matter which bin I put it in- it all goes to the same place anyway.
Moonee Valley sends each waste stream to a different facility for processing. Our red-lid bin landfill waste currently goes to landfill. Recycling goes to a materials recovery facility in Laverton where the streams are separated to be recycled. Finally, our Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) is processed into compost at Veolia in Bulla. From there it is sent to farms to rejuvenate the soil.
Myth #3: If it has the three arrow symbols, that means it can go in the recycling bin.
Unfortunately not. We acknowledge that this is one can be confusing! There are two main tools that you should know about that will help you recycle correctly:
- The Australasian Recycling Label or ARL
- The three arrow code system
An on-pack labeling scheme that is helping consumers to recycle correctly – you will see this on products in the big supermarkets (Woolworths, Coles, Aldi) and used by many Australian brands. The ARL is particularly helpful when products have different components that may not all be recyclable. If you see the arrows (the mobius loop) then you can recycle it, but the bin shows you it’s for the red-lid landfill bin.
The three arrow symbols show what type of plastic the packaging is made of, and these are identified with a number in the centre. While these help to tell you if the packaging can go in recycling, they are often confused as a universal recycling symbol.
Vital hint for Moonee Valley: If a plastic container has a 1, 2 or 5 in the middle of the arrow, put it in your yellow-lid recycling bin. Put all other plastics numbers in your red-lid landfill bin.
Not sure what goes in what bin?
Check out our A-Z Recycling guide and learn how you can recycle right and dispose of waste correctly.