Busting the biggest myths about recycling in Brisbane

We all want to support a cleaner, greener Brisbane by taking small actions at home, like recycling. However, we often ask what goes in our recycle bin, where it gets recycled, and why it matters. Let's bust some of the most common misconceptions about recycling in Brisbane!

Myth 1: If I put one wrong thing in my recycling bin, I’ve ruined a whole truck of recycling

Myth busted!

Visy’s Material Recovery Facility (MRF) receives your recyclables and sorts them into paper, cardboard, rigid plastics, glass, and metal. The sophisticated mechanical sorters detect and remove any non-recyclable items or contaminants.

It's important to know what can go in your recycling bin, but if a stray non-recyclable item makes its way into your bin, our systems will remove it.

Learn about the items you can recycle using our convenient (and free) Brisbane bin and recycling app.

Did you know?

Here are the top five items you should not throw into your recycling bin:

1. Soft plastics
2. Food waste
3. Batteries
4. Disposable nappies
5. Textiles.

Myth 2: Recycling doesn’t matter because it all ends up in land fill

Myth busted!

Council collects your recycling with our dedicated fleet of recycling trucks. In 2022-23, Council collected about 81,000 tonnes of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, and metals from Brisbane households. These materials are sorted and prepared for reprocessing into new products and packaging.

Brisbane residents are great at recycling but we can do more! In 2022-23, improper disposal sent approximately 30,000 tonnes of paper products to landfill.

Myth 3: I don’t need to recycle because Brisbane has heaps of space to bury our waste

Myth busted!

Our current landfill is filling up, and future sites or waste technologies may require land farther from the city.

By reducing waste and recycling, we make better use of our resources and save materials for the future. Recycling helps tackle important environmental issues by conserving water, reducing energy use, lowering greenhouse emissions, decreasing landfill reliance, and protecting natural habitats.

Myth 4: If there is no recycling symbol on the packaging it can’t be recycled

Myth busted!

The triangular recycling symbol shows a product is recyclable, but not all recyclable packaging has this symbol. To determine whether an item is recyclable, ask yourself what materials it contains. You can recycle paper, cardboard, rigid plastic, aluminum, steel, and glass in your Council recycling bin.

Did you know?

You can't put electronic waste, printer cartridges, mobile phones, and empty cosmetic containers in your recycling bin at home. Instead, specialist services can recycle them to prevent them from going to landfill. Companies include Terracycle, Mobile Muster, and Planet Ark. Download the Brisbane bin and recycling app to learn what is recyclable.

Myth 5: Items need to be washed and packed into a plastic bag before being placed in my recycling bin

Myth busted!

You do not need to rinse containers before you place them in your recycling bin, although doing so may reduce odours. Place all recyclable materials loosely in the bin. The recycling facility can’t open plastic bags, so they send any bagged recycling to landfill.

Myth 6: You can dispose of all household glass in the yellow recycling bin

Myth busted!

Different forms of glass have different melt temperatures. Only put glass containers with a recycling symbol in the recycling bin. Throw out other glassware, like Pyrex or broken drinking glasses, in the general waste.

Check what recyclables Council's resource recovery centres accepts and visit the Recycling Near You website for more details.

Myth 7: If a container has been used to store chemicals, it can't be recycled

Myth busted!

You can recycle empty bleach containers, aerosol cans and deodorant sprays in your home recycling bin. Take all other containers to a free household hazardous waste drop-off day. Council holds these days four times a year at its resource recovery centres.

Ready to improve your recycling efforts?

Increase your recycling capacity by ordering a larger yellow recycling bin from council for free.