Only rigid plastic bottles and containers can go in your recycling bin.
Flexible, soft plastics such as plastic bags or cling wrap can’t go in your recycle bin.
The codes you sometimes see on plastic containers are not used to decide what can go in your recycling bin.
What do the codes mean?
These voluntary industry codes indicate what type of plastic resin is used in the product. See more about the Plastics Identification Code.
They are no longer used to indicate if something can be placed in your recycle bin, as sometimes a code represents both accepted and not accepted plastics.
There are also plastics that don’t have a code, but are still recyclable.
How can I tell what’s OK?
All empty rigid plastic bottles and containers from your kitchen, bathroom and laundry can go in your blue lidded recycle bin. This includes items such as biscuit trays (not the outer wrapper), yoghurt containers, drink bottles, berry punnets and sauce bottles. See examples of accepted items
Why can’t some plastics go in the recycle bin?
Flexible soft plastics such as plastic bags and bread bags cause problems for the collection trucks and material recovery facilities:
- they get caught in machines, which can cause equipment breakage and fires
- they can contaminate the paper stream as the plastic has similar weight and colour.
See examples of items that are not accepted
Still not sure?
For further information on what can go in your recycle bin, contact Council on 1300 88 22 33 or email maroondah@maroondah.vic.gov.au