WE’RE ALL aware of the concept “reduce, re-use and recycle”, and most of us do our best to follow it.

But it’s important to recycle the right things in the correct manner.

All sorts of things can be recycled and made into new products, cutting down on waste and reducing the use of raw materials and energy during manufacture, but contamination can ruin everyone’s efforts, so we need to be careful what we put in recycle bins.

Australians contribute about one tonne of waste per person every year, but that can be cut by up to 50 percent by following these simple steps:

Sort it out

Separate recyclables such as glass, plastic, paper and metal from other rubbish. Correctly sort the items into different bins following council guidelines. Don’t mix non-recyclables with the recyclables.

Compost

Kitchen and garden scraps can go in the compost or into the green bin.

Lose the lids

Glass containers and plastic bottles should have the lids removed before recycling, but labels can remain.

Rinse it

Rinse glass jars, plastic bottles and containers before you throw them out, so they are free of food, liquids or other contaminants.

Buy it

Make an effort to purchase recycled goods; it’s no use recycling everything if we continue to buy new products.

By Susan KONTIC