Posted on: July 13, 2020
We all love the convenience of take-away food. Whether it’s a sneaky drive-through snack or a delicious delivery dinner, there’s no washing up but a whole lot of packaging that we need to know what to do with.
Let’s unpack the brown paper bag and find out what goes where.
These on-the-go vessels and takeaway packaging can be placed in a recycling bin.
| Item | Extra Notes | |
|---|---|---|
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Plastic bottles |
Empty, lids off |
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Glass bottles |
Empty, lids off |
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Aluminium cans |
Empty |
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Cardboard (e.g. clamshells, trays, boxes) |
Must be food-free |
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Paper bags |
Must be food-free |
These items below can go into your FOGO bin.
If you do not have a FOGO bin, these items go in your general waste bin, or you can try composting at home.
| Item | Extra notes | |
|---|---|---|
|
Food scraps |
Don't forget to remove the packaging from your food scraps before you add them to your FOGO bin. Meats, cheeses and bones are all good to FOGO – but leave them out of your home compost system. |
These items below should always go in the general waste bin.
| Item | Extra notes | |
|---|---|---|
|
Paper straws |
Try asking for no straw next time you order | |
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Coffee cups and their lids |
Don’t like a soggy lid? Ask to go lidless, or BYO cup |
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Soft drink cups (coated paperboard) |
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Anything with food residue (including paper, cardboard and plastic items that can’t be washed) |
An item that has a small smear of sauce wiped off or a little bit of grease can still be recycled |
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Napkins |
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Wooden utensils |
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Soft plastics (chip packets, chocolate wrappers) |
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Plastic lids |
You can also take these home and recycle them through a specialist program. |
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Juice boxes and any other silver-lined drink |
Collect and return your drink containers to Containers for Change. Just check for the 10c mark | |
| Popsticks |
Are take-away cups recyclable?No. While coffee cups and cardboard-based soft drink containers have changed for good, they still need to be placed in a general waste bin. A better option is to bring your own cup when grabbing a hot or cold beverage. The best choice of all is to take a moment for yourself, and dine-in using reusable crockery.
Yes – if they don’t have food residue on them. A small amount of grease is OK, but crust and melted on cheese are a no-no. If the lid is clean, you can tear it off for recycling before putting the rest in general waste. The same goes for the cartons you get your fries in and the cardboard clamshell that holds your burger.
In most instances, no. Even though they may look like cardboard, they typically contain a thin plastic lining, which makes them difficult to recycle. You should still throw away all disposable coffee cups in the general waste bin.
Until these old cups are all used up and out of circulation, the State and Federal governments are working with industry to determine when to allow these cups in the FOGO bins.
There are some specialist programs available such as the Simply Cups Cup Rescue program which recycle the cups into sustainable building material.
If you can, BYO reusable cup or take a moment and dine in – then this won’t be a worry anymore.
Lids are too small for many large recycling plants to process, however you do have options to keep them out of landfill.
Your voice is powerful – just ask for your takeaways to be placed in a container you already own.
A lot of the time it is just a case of asking for something different. If you choose to refuse by using your own reusable containers, cups and utensils instead, you’ll prevent a lot of waste from being created in the first place!
The BYO Containers website is a great way to locate outlets near you that are happy for you to bring your own containers.
We’re here to help – if you have a question about what you can and can’t recycle please send us an email.
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