Have you ever wondered what happens to the containers, bottles and cans you recycle with Return-It? We give your containers a second life by repurposing them into new products and materials. Let us explain.
Plastic Bottles
When plastic bottles and other plastic containers are picked up and sorted, they are sent to a specific plastic recycling facility. Here, they are shredded, washed, and reformed into plastic pellets, each about the size of a grain of rice. These pellets are sold to be turned into other plastic products.
They are often turned into new plastic bottles for drinks, and fruit punnets as well as textiles like polar fleeces.
Glass Bottles
Glass bottles are washed, and then machines will crush and break down the sorted glass so that it can be melted down easier. Then, the glass is melted down to create products like new bottles, jars and some glass fines are even used in road construction. Glass can be used for so many things, whether it’s to build the windows of a home or beer bottles for a brewery.
Glass maintains its quality and strength throughout the recycling process, so it can be recycled over and over again.
Cans
Finally, aluminum does not degrade during the recycling process. It’s the most cost-effective material to recycle, using around only 5% of the energy and emissions needed to make it from the raw material (bauxite).
Therefore, aluminum cans are able to be melted into ingots and then manufactured into new cans, engine blocks and repurposed into airplane wings.
In addition, all the scraps left over from the aluminium production process can be melted down and used again and again. For this reason, recycling is part of the normal lifecycle for large industrial products – around 75% of all the aluminium ever made is still in circulation.
Which containers are eligible to recycle?
Here are some quick tips when checking if your containers and bottles are eligible to recycle.
- Look for a refund mark on the container (“10c refund at collection depots/points in participating State/Territory of purchase”)
- Most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid beverage containers between 150ml and 3L are eligible
- You can also check a containers eligibility through a quick search of its barcode here.
Which containers are ineligible for recycling?
It is important to consider which containers Return-It does not accept. These include:
- Containers purchased outside of Australia
- Wine and spirit bottles
- Plain milk containers
- Juice bottles 1L and over
- Damaged containers (broken glass).
For a full list of ineligible containers, please refer to the state government excluded containers list here.
Remember, even if a container isn’t eligible for a refund, it can still be recycled through your household recycling collection, the yellow lid bin!
Join us in maintaining an environmentally friendly cycle, a “circular economy” to make our world a greener and more sustainable place.