What happens to Recyclable materials?

The role of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) - e.g. Kurrajong Recycling - is to sort commingled recyclables into groups based on their material type. This is done via a combination of manual and mechanical sorting, whereby workers hand-sort material and machinery such as conveyer belts, powerful magnets and more, transport recyclables and assist in the sorting process.

Non-recyclable materials are known as contamination. Contamination in the recycling stream affects productivity at the Materials Recovery Facility’s (MRF’s) and hazardous materials can pose a risk to MRF workers. Soft plastics for instance, can get caught in the machinery at the MRF and, as such, impede the sorting process whereas batteries or gas bottle can cause fires.

Remember to place the correct items in your yellow-lid recycling bin to avoid contamination and reduce danger to MRF workers.

Recycling is the process of turning something old, into something new. Recyclables are remade or repurposed in a number of ways.

Plastics number 1 (PET), 2 (HDPE), and 5 (PP) are the most saleable plastics and are used to make new plastic products such as irrigation pipes and plumbing pipe fittings, outdoor furniture, carpet fibres, fleece jackets, fence posts, compost bins, new soft drink/shampoo/ detergent bottles and more.

Glass can be made into new glass containers or processed into crushed glass and utilised in road making, pipe-laying backfill and site stabilisation around buildings or sites such as sewage treatment works.

Aluminium is used to make aluminium cans, automotive engines, window and door frames, saucepans and other homewares.

Steel is recycled into new steel cans, cars, construction steel, aeroplanes and train tracks.

Paper and Cardboard are recycled into similar products such as cardboard boxes, fruit and egg cartons, cereal boxes, newspaper, toilet rolls and insulation. Some paper is shredded for use as small animal bedding and litter.

One main reason is that the Materials Recovery Facility’s (MRF’s) that sort recyclables into material groups, are not always able to sort particular items.

The potential recyclability of an item, can also be impacted by the whether there is market demand for it, how cost effective it is against how time-consuming it is and if the product is made from a single material or not. In the case of disposable coffee cups for instance, these are not accepted in your recycling bins as they are composite materials with multiple thin layers of materials such as paper and plastic. This design makes them very difficult to recycle.