Most plastic bottles handed in at bottle recycling collection Adelaide centres are made from three types of plastic; polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), high-density polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. These bottles are recycled into fleece jackets, bedding, carpet, and furniture.
A new service called Direct Collect is streamlining recycling by providing homes and businesses with a dedicated bin for 10c refundable bottles, cans, and containers. This has been shown to increase recycling and reduce street litter.
Plastic
Plastic bottles are a convenient way to store and sell many liquids – from spring water and soft drinks to engine oil and baby formula. But they can take up to 700 years to break down and biodegrade and burying them in landfills wastes these valuable resources. For professional bottle recycling collection Adelaide services, check this out!
Fortunately, most bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) can be recycled repeatedly. This is thanks to a 10-cent deposit and refund scheme introduced in most states of Australia and is one of the best ways to reduce the number of plastic bottles in our oceans and waterways.
A ‘Plastic Identification Code’ – a triangle with numbers inside (1 to 7) – stamped on a bottle or container tells you which type of plastic it is and can help you avoid purchasing products made of less-recycled plastic, like PET. While several councils provide home and business recycling bins for kerbside collection of PET, HDPE and other rigid recyclables, this only recovers around 30-40% of the overall consumption of these bottles, as much comes from on-the-go food and drink purchases.
To help increase the amount of plastic bottle recycling, businesses and workplaces can register with a business recycling service such as Terra Cycle to become collection points. They can also use business toolkits to assist with reducing and recycling their plastic packaging, including advice on identifying which items can be recycled and what to do with them.
The collection and recycling of plastic bottles is most successful when done through a container deposit scheme, such as the one operated by the Adelaide’ Pooraka Bottle and Can Recycling Depot’. This helps to ensure that only suitable types of plastic are recycled and keeps other kinds of rubbish, such as glass and aluminium, out of the system. For professional bottle recycling collection Adelaide services, check this out!
Once collected, the plastic bottles are sorted based on their colour and material, then cleaned to remove any remaining liquid residues and crushed into small flakes. The flakes are then melted down to make pellets that can be moulded into various new plastic items, from fleece jackets and pillows and sleeping bag fillings to carpet, building insulation, buckets and pipes.
Glass
Glass is ideal for recycling because it doesn’t degrade and can be recycled repeatedly without losing its quality or durability. It’s also a sustainable material that requires less energy to produce than manufacturing from raw materials, meaning that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Bottles and jars made from glass are commonly used for drinks, foods, and even home cleaning products. If you have empty glass containers, take them to a bottle recycling collection centre and place them in a bin marked for glass. It’s essential to separate your bottles from other recyclable waste to ensure they get recycled properly.
Unlike plastic, glass is usually not mixed with other materials during recycling because it is difficult to sort out once it’s been co-mingled together. To avoid this, you can use a separate bin for your glass bottles or look for a drop-off point with dedicated bins. Using different recycling bins will prevent your glass from ending up in the wrong waste streams, which can harm wildlife and pollute our waterways.
When you bring your glass bottles to a recycling centre, ensure they’re clean and free of paper labels. Then, remove the caps and place them separately from the bottles. This will help speed up the process and allow the staff to check that each container can be recycled. Also, be sure to remove the metal lids. This will make the process easier for everyone involved and help reduce waste.
After your glass bottles and jars have been collected, they will be taken to a materials recycling facility, where they will go through a series of processes to become reusable again. Depending on the size and colour of the glass, it may be separated into different containers. Once sorted, it is crushed, cleaned, and mixed with other raw materials, such as soda ash and sand. The result is melted glass that can be poured into moulds to create new glass bottles and jars.
Although most glass is made from virgin materials, recycled glass can manufacture various products. These include beverage bottles, fibreglass insulation, water filtration medium and even abrasives like sandpaper. Recycling glass uses only about 40% of the energy required to produce a new bottle, saving energy and natural resources.
Aluminium
As a metal, aluminium is sustainable and can be recycled indefinitely without losing its properties or quality. It’s also cost-effective and environmentally friendly, using only 5% of the energy required to produce new aluminium from its raw materials. One tonne of recycled aluminium saves enough energy to power a television set for three hours. For professional bottle recycling collection Adelaide services, check this out!