August 24, 2022 • 20 mins
We all have objects made from glass or metal in our homes. But how do we correctly dispose of these items, especially when they don’t fit in our bins?
We’re talking all things metals and glass on the City of Kingston’s new waste podcast. Visit our A to Z of waste disposal guide for information on how you can recycle and dispose of waste items correctly.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Welcome to Trash talk,
the world's trashiest podcast where we sort through your waste and recycling.
Hello,
everybody and welcome to the Trash Talk podcast on today's episode.
(00:27):
We're talking all things glass and metals.
My name is Freya.
I'm Council's Waste Education Officer for the city of Kingston.
And with me is Jules and we're gonna be discussing all things trash specifically metals and glass today.
So,
hi,
everyone.
Let's get started.
Alright,
let's do it.
So jumping into glass first,
(00:49):
what types of glass can be recycled?
Jews?
What do you think?
Yeah.
So there's lots of different glass items we can find around the home,
but basically speaking,
it's just glass items that have had products or food in them that you've bought at a store.
Um So things like jam jars,
uh soft drinks in a glass bottle,
(01:11):
veggie mite jars,
um different sauces like oyster sauce,
fish sauce,
those types of things.
Any of those you could find in a supermarket can go in the recycling bin and,
and that's had food or drink in it when you've purchased it.
Yeah.
So,
yeah,
that,
that's a pretty easy way to remember it.
Anything with food or drink in it when you've bought it can go in the recycling bin,
which leads us on to the next thing.
(01:33):
So items like window glass or window glass,
sorry,
items like drinking glasses or wine glasses.
So be the types of glasses that we've purchased without food or drinking them.
What do we do with those?
So those if you're clumsy have to go in the red bin.
So the reason for that is basically is those types of glasses are heat treated.
(01:57):
So they're made to withstand,
you know,
being heated up in a dishwasher or Pyrex glasses that go in your oven for baking,
delicious casseroles or whatever those things.
Yeah,
are designed for a different purpose.
And so when they get melted down to make new glass products,
if they've been heat treated,
(02:17):
you might end up with imperfections or lumps that haven't melted because they melt at different temperatures.
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's,
that's a pretty easy way to remember it.
Yeah,
they,
they melt at different temperatures and that's why we can only have a certain type of glass in our recycling bin.
I've also been told as well that it could also do with their shatter like the point that they shatter and how that some type of glass shatter in smaller pieces and some are designed to be sort of a safety shatterproof so that they break in larger pieces,
(02:43):
that's easier to clean up like that.
Yeah.
Alright.
So what about our window glass then like if we break a window,
I know that's often referred to in the technical side of things as plate glass,
plate glass,
I'm guessing is not recyclable as well.
No,
it didn't have food in it.
It didn't pass the food test.
(03:04):
That's fine.
Same with Pyrex,
same thing.
No food in it don't count it.
Um What about some old spectacles or glasses that we,
we wear to,
to look?
Yeah.
So again,
those,
I mean,
if you popped out the lenses,
it'd just be glass.
But again,
it's a different type of glass.
It didn't have food in it.
(03:24):
It's not designed for that.
So it can't go in the recycling bin.
There is some charities that do um recycle those and we have some of them listed on the council's A to Z of waste and recycle disposal guide.
Um So if you just jump onto the Kingston website under recycling and rubbish,
um we'll have the A to Z guide,
click on that and it will show you more information on how to,
(03:44):
you know,
properly recycle or donate or which charities that will accept them as well.
What about mirrors?
Yeah,
mirrors are just didn't pass the test.
No,
it didn't pass the test.
But yeah,
mirrors are just glass as well.
They just have a chemical reaction that's um been adhered to the glass panel again,
(04:06):
that can't be recycled.
It's the best thing to put it in your rubbish bin,
maybe I would say if you've got a lot of it,
if you can maybe wrap it up in some newspaper or something like that as well,
just to stop it,
you know,
punching a hole through the garbage bag and then your garbage falling everywhere when your bin is lifted.
Um,
and then the next one I wanted to chat about is our light bulbs.
(04:27):
So we do see a lot of light bulbs come through.
Um,
the recycling bin sometimes.
And I think people are a little bit confused because they are glass as such.
But again,
a light bulb hasn't passed that food test.
So it is not recyclable.
Yeah,
that's right.
And as well as obviously it's got electronic components,
metal products.
It's,
yeah,
it's a composite item.
(04:49):
It can't go in the recycling bin.
It's best to keep it out.
So,
yeah,
so I guess the easiest rule of thumb when it comes to glass is if it's food packaging and you've bought it with food or drink in it.
Yes,
it can go in the recycling bin.
Everything else,
please keep out if you're unsure of where to take it or what to do with it.
Check Council's website,
there's lots of great information on there.
Um But most likely it will all be allowed to go into your garbage bin.
(05:11):
Um I will say as well that if you do have any drinking glasses or wine glasses or Pyrex or,
or anything that you don't no longer need but is still in good quality.
Um donate it to an op shop or take it to,
you know,
the Salvos or Saint Vinnie's or an any local op shop um to donate them.
Um And let's try and avoid sending waste to landfill if we can.
(05:35):
So glass.
What happens in the recycling process?
Well,
glass gets sorted um at the MF which is the materials recovery facility.
Um,
it gets sorted by lots of different,
um,
machinery there which we have talked about,
um,
in depth in the first episode.
Uh,
but then moving on from there.
What,
what happens to that?
Jewels?
(05:56):
Yes.
So once it's collected and sorted it'll be bagged up in.
I don't know what the material is but some bag that won't get cut by glass and they can't get bailed like everything else and they fall apart.
That's exactly right.
So it'll get shipped off in these big bags to whoever wants to buy them Recyclers.
(06:17):
Yep.
And they essentially crush it and into really small sand dust and it can be reused in road base or just get melted down to make new glass products.
Yeah,
a really common way of using glass.
Um,
you might see more and more is by putting it into bus lanes and bike lanes,
(06:37):
you'll see the reflective reflectiveness of the road base and that's actually glass that's been,
um,
you know,
made really,
really fine and they put in the,
in the road base to help reflect the sunlight as well to help distinguish which is the bike lane and bus lanes.
So,
keep an eye out for them when you're next on,
your walks out and about see the glass and the road base.
Um,
(06:58):
and,
and I guess other glass then is,
is melted down and turned into other glass products.
Whether it is,
um,
uh,
our food packaging,
our vegemite,
more vegemite jars,
peanut butter jars,
um even wine bottles and all those sorts of things,
gin bottles.
If,
if you like a a glass of gin on a Friday night,
um,
all many different types of glass can be recycled.
(07:21):
So,
yeah,
cool.
Alright.
Well,
now we might move on to our metals.
So now we're gonna be chatting a bit more about our steel and our aluminum.
Um,
and what happens to our metals?
So,
um,
what sort of metals can be recycled?
Jews.
Ok.
So aluminum,
let's start with that one.
Uh,
(07:42):
cans,
aero,
some,
aerosols are aluminum when it comes to cans.
Does it different differentiate between say soft drink cans and beer cans or is it all all sort of aluminum cans?
All the same?
Um,
there's foil,
aluminum foil.
So that one is a little bit different.
(08:02):
So obviously it comes in thin sheets you use for baking or other things,
collect a bit of it up and scrunch it into a nice tight ball about the size of your fist and that can go in the yellow lidded bin and it will get recycled.
We just wanna make sure it's sizable.
So,
yeah.
So,
as I said,
I think in episode one about your Easter eggs foils try and,
(08:24):
you know,
build them up if you've got time and peel them all off and just eat a lot of chocolate.
Yes.
Yeah.
Eat plenty of chocolate so that you can get a nice big bowl of aluminum foil that can,
if you need any excuse,
you've heard it here first.
I,
um,
I have heard of people as well having a little bowl of aluminum foil next to their bins at home so that they can slowly start adding it before they put it into the bin.
(08:47):
So that's another good little tip as well.
So when it comes to our steel cans,
can we include things like aerosols and things like that as well as say,
our baked bean cans and our normal steel cans that we put in?
Yeah,
those are all fine,
particularly with aerosols.
Please make sure they're empty.
Um,
we don't want any explosions of sorts.
(09:09):
Yeah,
the back of the truck especially that can cause fires and other issues.
So,
yeah,
make sure they're empty.
But all those steel cans for pet food,
baby food,
tuna,
all those are totally fine.
And I guess the same with the aluminum aerosol cans as well.
So like the deodorant spray cans and things like that.
Just make sure that they are empty and they can go into your recycling bin.
(09:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um,
yeah.
So any sort of,
any sort of metal,
um,
or aluminum cans or aerosols can go into your recycling bin?
Ah,
the best thing to do when it comes to your steel cans,
people often ask,
do I need to wash out,
rinse,
out,
scrape out?
What's the deal with all of that?
Um,
The best thing to do is because everything is a lot of it is sort of by weight.
(09:54):
I would suggest scraping out as much of the,
say if it's dog food or tomato paste,
as much as much of the product as you can get out of it.
Um,
and then leave a little bit like then it's fine.
A little bit underneath the rim is OK.
But you don't want enough that it's gonna change the weight of the,
of the steel can.
I don't need to be licking them clean.
(10:14):
No,
don't lick them clean.
Don't let them clean.
No way.
But,
uh,
you also don't have to worry about rinsing them too much.
However,
I will put a little disclosure in there in the middle of summer if it's hot and more.
So when it comes to maybe dog food and animal foods and things like that and even milk bottles.
If you've got a little bit of water left over from boiling potatoes,
(10:37):
please use them to wash out your can or bottle um because in a 30 degree week where it's been very very hot and humid.
The recycling facility uh likes to give off a bit of a smell from all these containers.
Yeah and your bin is uh gives off some lovely odors.
So to help everyone have um a odor free uh environment if you can uh please try and rinse them out or scrape them out as best as you can.
(11:03):
Don't,
don't go and again we want to try and save water as well.
So yeah,
that's fine.
Cool.
Alright,
so then what happens to our um oh no,
we're going to talk a bit more about some other metals.
So some common questions that we get.
So you know,
the like the large 20 liter oil can that,
(11:25):
you know,
a lot of people don't use for cooking,
you might buy it like Costco things like that.
What do you do with that one that's empty?
Is that recyclable?
Yeah,
it's,
it's fine to go in the bin.
It's still steel as long as it's empty and you haven't compromised the weight of the product.
Absolutely.
Put it in the recycling bin.
Yeah,
that's good.
And,
and what about like say for example,
(11:46):
those larger metal items like a,
a washing machine or a dishwasher that you know,
are often white goods that are made of metal.
Can they go in the recycling bin?
I mean,
good luck if you can fit one in and you've gone to the effort to deconstruct it.
But no,
they,
they can't go in your recycling bin.
The best thing to do when it comes to White goods is you can book a hard waste collection online through council.
(12:10):
Um You can call Council or make a booking online for um a collection or you can jump on council's website.
The A to Z guide has lots of great information um and lots of drop off places.
Um Just be mindful.
Some people might charge depending on what it is,
but most people are generally pretty happy to accept white goods.
It leads me on to the next one that we quite often see every now and then,
(12:34):
which is our gas bottles.
So,
gas bottles,
um thinking not very good in the back of the truck,
especially if we're uh compacting the truck,
compacting all the materials.
So please leave all of your gas bottles out of the recycling bin.
Um Again,
the A to Z guide has lots of information on where to get rid of them and take them.
(12:56):
But a transfer station is best.
Um So the Bayside transfer station or the Kingston transfer station will accept them.
What about nails and screws?
Yeah,
I mean,
they're metal but they're just too small.
Again,
it's that category of the items way too small to be sorted properly.
If there's things on top of it or it punctures other bits and pieces,
(13:20):
it's,
it's just too hard to recycle in the Yellow Lied bin.
And I guess when it comes down to it,
the recycling facility is also after metals that are come from sort of food packaging items as such,
not um,
the random sort of demolition or household or,
you know,
things like that that's,
you know,
building materials and metals and things.
(13:40):
It's more like the food packaging,
um,
types of containers that we have now another one that we quite often find and it's a bit of a composite one.
So we were discussing if it should go into the metals category or if it should go in the plastics podcast that we're,
we're talking about is um pill packets.
So you know how pill packets often have like the plastic packet,
but it has that aluminum foil on it.
(14:03):
So I'm guessing that's a composite product.
It is a composite product.
So if you've just popped the pills out and it's all empty because it's composite,
you're gonna have to put it in your red litter bin.
If you did take the time to peel the foil off and have that little ball next to your bin,
you're collecting a plus to you a for effort.
(14:26):
But you know,
for the average Joe,
yeah,
it's a,
it's a small amount of aluminum and it will have to go into the red lit man does make it that composite product to keep it out.
And then the last one is E waste.
So chatting a bit more about e waste.
I know we've talked about it now in a few of our other um episodes.
(14:46):
So E waste is anything with a plug cord or battery?
So please make sure you keep that out of your recycling bin.
Um And also out of your garbage bin because the state government brought in the E waste ban.
Um So the idea is that E waste has lots of precious metals and things in it that can be recycled.
Um And so we want to make sure we take it to a facility that can be recycled.
(15:10):
So Kingston have a few different drop off locations.
Um So to take your E waste.
So that is the west or library in Clayton South,
the Kingston Council office in Cheltenham and the Patterson Lakes Library as well.
Now again,
we do have lots of information online and we're hoping to set up a few more locations around the municipality.
(15:33):
So please do uh check the website for more information if you're interested in that.
Did you have any further information on,
on E waste?
And no,
not particularly,
I,
I guess more just to touch on what is considered E waste like computer mice,
keyboards.
What else are there?
Yeah.
So,
so e waste is anything with a plug,
(15:54):
a cord or a battery?
And the really cool thing about E waste in Kingston is if you bring your E waste to one of those um facilities I've just mentioned earlier,
it's actually getting recycled here locally in men to within the municipality.
So that's fantastic.
We've,
we've teamed up with a local Recycler called A Tech Recyclers and plug out to them that they're a really lovely company and they actually do a drive past every week or every fortnight to those facilities and empty the bins out and recycle all those items.
(16:22):
So they recycle all that it,
equipment and yeah,
it's a,
yeah,
it's a great,
great little partnership.
Yeah,
that's awesome.
Yeah.
So after our medals,
we've worked,
talked a bit about what can and can't be recycled.
Um What happens to the,
to the process?
How do they get sorted and separated?
So the metals as they're going through their journey at the Murph,
(16:46):
they'll reach a point on that conveyor belt journey where there's gonna be a giant magnet that's just gonna suck them up off the conveyor belt yik rip straight out of there and yeah,
it'll pick up all the steel through,
through that magnet and it will be moved on to another part of the facility where it's collected separately and then can be crushed into those giant cubes.
(17:10):
Yeah.
Cool.
That's exciting.
And then,
and then what happens?
So then a metal Recycler will buy that product and they'll melt it down and start to make other products out of steel.
So a lot of sheet metal and then maybe uh manufactured back into steel cans,
food packaging,
aerosols.
Yeah.
(17:30):
All those things that we already bought can just be reused again.
There's no need to keep opening new mines and digging that stuff out of the ground.
It can absolutely be reused again.
And we're closing that loop on recycling.
It's great to see that.
We're,
we're getting that,
you know,
all those metals and even the glass that we talked about earlier and we're closing that loop rather than sending it to landfill where it might sit there for many hundreds of years.
(17:54):
So,
so for example,
there's theories out there that say kitchen foil will take 80 years to break down in landfill.
Whereas a soft drink can,
might take 200 years if you get those items out and we start recycling them.
That's,
that's so we're so much better for it.
Yeah,
absolutely.
So the aluminum goes through that same conveyor belt process,
(18:15):
but it will reach another point where it hits what's called the Eddy current where it is the opposite to a magnet and repels the aluminum away into a different spot of the recycling facility.
And it's really cool.
It's like magic.
It hits a point and just bounces off and goes.
It's the educator's favorite.
(18:35):
It's the coolest thing ever.
It's magic.
But once that's all separated again,
that gets crushed and compacted into giant cubes and that will get sent off to a factory that will buy the product and the cool thing about aluminum is it can be infinitely recycled.
There is no degradation in the product uh integrity.
(18:58):
It just can be infinitely used.
For example,
paper can only be used,
you know,
five or seven times whereas a aluminum just ongoing forever.
We're always gonna have soft drink around.
It's good to know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No,
that's good.
And,
and as I said before in episode one,
spoiler,
spoiler alert that if you recycle one soft drink can the energy saved from having to dig out more book site and process that you can turn your TV on for three hours.
(19:28):
So that's just incredible.
So we just really want to try and focus on getting all these great um metals um and the glass and resources out of our landfill bin because unfortunately there are some that do end up in our landfill bin um and recycle them um if they are recyclable.
So,
so please try and recycle them.
Help,
help Kinston close the loop on recycling.
(19:49):
Yeah.
Uh A little insider um information as well is of all the recyclables that go into your yellow litter bin.
The steel and aluminum are the most valuable.
A lot of companies will pay top dollar for that stuff.
But like Freya said,
it's because it's actually cheaper than buying the virgin product that's taken out of a mine.
(20:10):
So that's the good stuff.
We really want that steel and aluminum.
Yeah.
No,
that's good.
Please please get that out of the landfill bin.
Awesome.
Alright.
Well,
on that note,
we might finish up today's episode.
But um thanks again,
Jules for your wonderful insights and thanks everyone for talking trash with us and we'll see the next episode which should all be about our food and garden waste bin,
(20:32):
which is pretty exciting.
Welcome to Trash talk,
the world's trashiest podcast where we sort through your waste and recycling.
Hello,
everybody and welcome to the Trash Talk podcast on today's episode.
(00:27):
We're talking all things glass and metals.
My name is Freya.
I'm Council's Waste Education Officer for the city of Kingston.
And with me is Jules and we're gonna be discussing all things trash specifically metals and glass today.
So,
hi,
everyone.
Let's get started.
Alright,
let's do it.
So jumping into glass first,
(00:49):
what types of glass can be recycled?
Jews?
What do you think?
Yeah.
So there's lots of different glass items we can find around the home,
but basically speaking,
it's just glass items that have had products or food in them that you've bought at a store.
Um So things like jam jars,
uh soft drinks in a glass bottle,
(01:11):
veggie mite jars,
um different sauces like oyster sauce,
fish sauce,
those types of things.
Any of those you could find in a supermarket can go in the recycling bin and,
and that's had food or drink in it when you've purchased it.
Yeah.
So,
yeah,
that,
that's a pretty easy way to remember it.
Anything with food or drink in it when you've bought it can go in the recycling bin,
which leads us on to the next thing.
(01:33):
So items like window glass or window glass,
sorry,
items like drinking glasses or wine glasses.
So be the types of glasses that we've purchased without food or drinking them.
What do we do with those?
So those if you're clumsy have to go in the red bin.
So the reason for that is basically is those types of glasses are heat treated.
(01:57):
So they're made to withstand,
you know,
being heated up in a dishwasher or Pyrex glasses that go in your oven for baking,
delicious casseroles or whatever those things.
Yeah,
are designed for a different purpose.
And so when they get melted down to make new glass products,
if they've been heat treated,
(02:17):
you might end up with imperfections or lumps that haven't melted because they melt at different temperatures.
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's,
that's a pretty easy way to remember it.
Yeah,
they,
they melt at different temperatures and that's why we can only have a certain type of glass in our recycling bin.
I've also been told as well that it could also do with their shatter like the point that they shatter and how that some type of glass shatter in smaller pieces and some are designed to be sort of a safety shatterproof so that they break in larger pieces,
(02:43):
that's easier to clean up like that.
Yeah.
Alright.
So what about our window glass then like if we break a window,
I know that's often referred to in the technical side of things as plate glass,
plate glass,
I'm guessing is not recyclable as well.
No,
it didn't have food in it.
It didn't pass the food test.
(03:04):
That's fine.
Same with Pyrex,
same thing.
No food in it don't count it.
Um What about some old spectacles or glasses that we,
we wear to,
to look?
Yeah.
So again,
those,
I mean,
if you popped out the lenses,
it'd just be glass.
But again,
it's a different type of glass.
It didn't have food in it.
(03:24):
It's not designed for that.
So it can't go in the recycling bin.
There is some charities that do um recycle those and we have some of them listed on the council's A to Z of waste and recycle disposal guide.
Um So if you just jump onto the Kingston website under recycling and rubbish,
um we'll have the A to Z guide,
click on that and it will show you more information on how to,
(03:44):
you know,
properly recycle or donate or which charities that will accept them as well.
What about mirrors?
Yeah,
mirrors are just didn't pass the test.
No,
it didn't pass the test.
But yeah,
mirrors are just glass as well.
They just have a chemical reaction that's um been adhered to the glass panel again,
(04:06):
that can't be recycled.
It's the best thing to put it in your rubbish bin,
maybe I would say if you've got a lot of it,
if you can maybe wrap it up in some newspaper or something like that as well,
just to stop it,
you know,
punching a hole through the garbage bag and then your garbage falling everywhere when your bin is lifted.
Um,
and then the next one I wanted to chat about is our light bulbs.
(04:27):
So we do see a lot of light bulbs come through.
Um,
the recycling bin sometimes.
And I think people are a little bit confused because they are glass as such.
But again,
a light bulb hasn't passed that food test.
So it is not recyclable.
Yeah,
that's right.
And as well as obviously it's got electronic components,
metal products.
It's,
yeah,
it's a composite item.
(04:49):
It can't go in the recycling bin.
It's best to keep it out.
So,
yeah,
so I guess the easiest rule of thumb when it comes to glass is if it's food packaging and you've bought it with food or drink in it.
Yes,
it can go in the recycling bin.
Everything else,
please keep out if you're unsure of where to take it or what to do with it.
Check Council's website,
there's lots of great information on there.
Um But most likely it will all be allowed to go into your garbage bin.
(05:11):
Um I will say as well that if you do have any drinking glasses or wine glasses or Pyrex or,
or anything that you don't no longer need but is still in good quality.
Um donate it to an op shop or take it to,
you know,
the Salvos or Saint Vinnie's or an any local op shop um to donate them.
Um And let's try and avoid sending waste to landfill if we can.
(05:35):
So glass.
What happens in the recycling process?
Well,
glass gets sorted um at the MF which is the materials recovery facility.
Um,
it gets sorted by lots of different,
um,
machinery there which we have talked about,
um,
in depth in the first episode.
Uh,
but then moving on from there.
What,
what happens to that?
Jewels?
(05:56):
Yes.
So once it's collected and sorted it'll be bagged up in.
I don't know what the material is but some bag that won't get cut by glass and they can't get bailed like everything else and they fall apart.
That's exactly right.
So it'll get shipped off in these big bags to whoever wants to buy them Recyclers.
(06:17):
Yep.
And they essentially crush it and into really small sand dust and it can be reused in road base or just get melted down to make new glass products.
Yeah,
a really common way of using glass.
Um,
you might see more and more is by putting it into bus lanes and bike lanes,
(06:37):
you'll see the reflective reflectiveness of the road base and that's actually glass that's been,
um,
you know,
made really,
really fine and they put in the,
in the road base to help reflect the sunlight as well to help distinguish which is the bike lane and bus lanes.
So,
keep an eye out for them when you're next on,
your walks out and about see the glass and the road base.
Um,
(06:58):
and,
and I guess other glass then is,
is melted down and turned into other glass products.
Whether it is,
um,
uh,
our food packaging,
our vegemite,
more vegemite jars,
peanut butter jars,
um even wine bottles and all those sorts of things,
gin bottles.
If,
if you like a a glass of gin on a Friday night,
um,
all many different types of glass can be recycled.
(07:21):
So,
yeah,
cool.
Alright.
Well,
now we might move on to our metals.
So now we're gonna be chatting a bit more about our steel and our aluminum.
Um,
and what happens to our metals?
So,
um,
what sort of metals can be recycled?
Jews.
Ok.
So aluminum,
let's start with that one.
Uh,
(07:42):
cans,
aero,
some,
aerosols are aluminum when it comes to cans.
Does it different differentiate between say soft drink cans and beer cans or is it all all sort of aluminum cans?
All the same?
Um,
there's foil,
aluminum foil.
So that one is a little bit different.
(08:02):
So obviously it comes in thin sheets you use for baking or other things,
collect a bit of it up and scrunch it into a nice tight ball about the size of your fist and that can go in the yellow lidded bin and it will get recycled.
We just wanna make sure it's sizable.
So,
yeah.
So,
as I said,
I think in episode one about your Easter eggs foils try and,
(08:24):
you know,
build them up if you've got time and peel them all off and just eat a lot of chocolate.
Yes.
Yeah.
Eat plenty of chocolate so that you can get a nice big bowl of aluminum foil that can,
if you need any excuse,
you've heard it here first.
I,
um,
I have heard of people as well having a little bowl of aluminum foil next to their bins at home so that they can slowly start adding it before they put it into the bin.
(08:47):
So that's another good little tip as well.
So when it comes to our steel cans,
can we include things like aerosols and things like that as well as say,
our baked bean cans and our normal steel cans that we put in?
Yeah,
those are all fine,
particularly with aerosols.
Please make sure they're empty.
Um,
we don't want any explosions of sorts.
(09:09):
Yeah,
the back of the truck especially that can cause fires and other issues.
So,
yeah,
make sure they're empty.
But all those steel cans for pet food,
baby food,
tuna,
all those are totally fine.
And I guess the same with the aluminum aerosol cans as well.
So like the deodorant spray cans and things like that.
Just make sure that they are empty and they can go into your recycling bin.
(09:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um,
yeah.
So any sort of,
any sort of metal,
um,
or aluminum cans or aerosols can go into your recycling bin?
Ah,
the best thing to do when it comes to your steel cans,
people often ask,
do I need to wash out,
rinse,
out,
scrape out?
What's the deal with all of that?
Um,
The best thing to do is because everything is a lot of it is sort of by weight.
(09:54):
I would suggest scraping out as much of the,
say if it's dog food or tomato paste,
as much as much of the product as you can get out of it.
Um,
and then leave a little bit like then it's fine.
A little bit underneath the rim is OK.
But you don't want enough that it's gonna change the weight of the,
of the steel can.
I don't need to be licking them clean.
(10:14):
No,
don't lick them clean.
Don't let them clean.
No way.
But,
uh,
you also don't have to worry about rinsing them too much.
However,
I will put a little disclosure in there in the middle of summer if it's hot and more.
So when it comes to maybe dog food and animal foods and things like that and even milk bottles.
If you've got a little bit of water left over from boiling potatoes,
(10:37):
please use them to wash out your can or bottle um because in a 30 degree week where it's been very very hot and humid.
The recycling facility uh likes to give off a bit of a smell from all these containers.
Yeah and your bin is uh gives off some lovely odors.
So to help everyone have um a odor free uh environment if you can uh please try and rinse them out or scrape them out as best as you can.
(11:03):
Don't,
don't go and again we want to try and save water as well.
So yeah,
that's fine.
Cool.
Alright,
so then what happens to our um oh no,
we're going to talk a bit more about some other metals.
So some common questions that we get.
So you know,
the like the large 20 liter oil can that,
(11:25):
you know,
a lot of people don't use for cooking,
you might buy it like Costco things like that.
What do you do with that one that's empty?
Is that recyclable?
Yeah,
it's,
it's fine to go in the bin.
It's still steel as long as it's empty and you haven't compromised the weight of the product.
Absolutely.
Put it in the recycling bin.
Yeah,
that's good.
And,
and what about like say for example,
(11:46):
those larger metal items like a,
a washing machine or a dishwasher that you know,
are often white goods that are made of metal.
Can they go in the recycling bin?
I mean,
good luck if you can fit one in and you've gone to the effort to deconstruct it.
But no,
they,
they can't go in your recycling bin.
The best thing to do when it comes to White goods is you can book a hard waste collection online through council.
(12:10):
Um You can call Council or make a booking online for um a collection or you can jump on council's website.
The A to Z guide has lots of great information um and lots of drop off places.
Um Just be mindful.
Some people might charge depending on what it is,
but most people are generally pretty happy to accept white goods.
It leads me on to the next one that we quite often see every now and then,
(12:34):
which is our gas bottles.
So,
gas bottles,
um thinking not very good in the back of the truck,
especially if we're uh compacting the truck,
compacting all the materials.
So please leave all of your gas bottles out of the recycling bin.
Um Again,
the A to Z guide has lots of information on where to get rid of them and take them.
(12:56):
But a transfer station is best.
Um So the Bayside transfer station or the Kingston transfer station will accept them.
What about nails and screws?
Yeah,
I mean,
they're metal but they're just too small.
Again,
it's that category of the items way too small to be sorted properly.
If there's things on top of it or it punctures other bits and pieces,
(13:20):
it's,
it's just too hard to recycle in the Yellow Lied bin.
And I guess when it comes down to it,
the recycling facility is also after metals that are come from sort of food packaging items as such,
not um,
the random sort of demolition or household or,
you know,
things like that that's,
you know,
building materials and metals and things.
(13:40):
It's more like the food packaging,
um,
types of containers that we have now another one that we quite often find and it's a bit of a composite one.
So we were discussing if it should go into the metals category or if it should go in the plastics podcast that we're,
we're talking about is um pill packets.
So you know how pill packets often have like the plastic packet,
but it has that aluminum foil on it.
(14:03):
So I'm guessing that's a composite product.
It is a composite product.
So if you've just popped the pills out and it's all empty because it's composite,
you're gonna have to put it in your red litter bin.
If you did take the time to peel the foil off and have that little ball next to your bin,
you're collecting a plus to you a for effort.
(14:26):
But you know,
for the average Joe,
yeah,
it's a,
it's a small amount of aluminum and it will have to go into the red lit man does make it that composite product to keep it out.
And then the last one is E waste.
So chatting a bit more about e waste.
I know we've talked about it now in a few of our other um episodes.
(14:46):
So E waste is anything with a plug cord or battery?
So please make sure you keep that out of your recycling bin.
Um And also out of your garbage bin because the state government brought in the E waste ban.
Um So the idea is that E waste has lots of precious metals and things in it that can be recycled.
Um And so we want to make sure we take it to a facility that can be recycled.
(15:10):
So Kingston have a few different drop off locations.
Um So to take your E waste.
So that is the west or library in Clayton South,
the Kingston Council office in Cheltenham and the Patterson Lakes Library as well.
Now again,
we do have lots of information online and we're hoping to set up a few more locations around the municipality.
(15:33):
So please do uh check the website for more information if you're interested in that.
Did you have any further information on,
on E waste?
And no,
not particularly,
I,
I guess more just to touch on what is considered E waste like computer mice,
keyboards.
What else are there?
Yeah.
So,
so e waste is anything with a plug,
(15:54):
a cord or a battery?
And the really cool thing about E waste in Kingston is if you bring your E waste to one of those um facilities I've just mentioned earlier,
it's actually getting recycled here locally in men to within the municipality.
So that's fantastic.
We've,
we've teamed up with a local Recycler called A Tech Recyclers and plug out to them that they're a really lovely company and they actually do a drive past every week or every fortnight to those facilities and empty the bins out and recycle all those items.
(16:22):
So they recycle all that it,
equipment and yeah,
it's a,
yeah,
it's a great,
great little partnership.
Yeah,
that's awesome.
Yeah.
So after our medals,
we've worked,
talked a bit about what can and can't be recycled.
Um What happens to the,
to the process?
How do they get sorted and separated?
So the metals as they're going through their journey at the Murph,
(16:46):
they'll reach a point on that conveyor belt journey where there's gonna be a giant magnet that's just gonna suck them up off the conveyor belt yik rip straight out of there and yeah,
it'll pick up all the steel through,
through that magnet and it will be moved on to another part of the facility where it's collected separately and then can be crushed into those giant cubes.
(17:10):
Yeah.
Cool.
That's exciting.
And then,
and then what happens?
So then a metal Recycler will buy that product and they'll melt it down and start to make other products out of steel.
So a lot of sheet metal and then maybe uh manufactured back into steel cans,
food packaging,
aerosols.
Yeah.
(17:30):
All those things that we already bought can just be reused again.
There's no need to keep opening new mines and digging that stuff out of the ground.
It can absolutely be reused again.
And we're closing that loop on recycling.
It's great to see that.
We're,
we're getting that,
you know,
all those metals and even the glass that we talked about earlier and we're closing that loop rather than sending it to landfill where it might sit there for many hundreds of years.
(17:54):
So,
so for example,
there's theories out there that say kitchen foil will take 80 years to break down in landfill.
Whereas a soft drink can,
might take 200 years if you get those items out and we start recycling them.
That's,
that's so we're so much better for it.
Yeah,
absolutely.
So the aluminum goes through that same conveyor belt process,
(18:15):
but it will reach another point where it hits what's called the Eddy current where it is the opposite to a magnet and repels the aluminum away into a different spot of the recycling facility.
And it's really cool.
It's like magic.
It hits a point and just bounces off and goes.
It's the educator's favorite.
(18:35):
It's the coolest thing ever.
It's magic.
But once that's all separated again,
that gets crushed and compacted into giant cubes and that will get sent off to a factory that will buy the product and the cool thing about aluminum is it can be infinitely recycled.
There is no degradation in the product uh integrity.
(18:58):
It just can be infinitely used.
For example,
paper can only be used,
you know,
five or seven times whereas a aluminum just ongoing forever.
We're always gonna have soft drink around.
It's good to know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No,
that's good.
And,
and as I said before in episode one,
spoiler,
spoiler alert that if you recycle one soft drink can the energy saved from having to dig out more book site and process that you can turn your TV on for three hours.
(19:28):
So that's just incredible.
So we just really want to try and focus on getting all these great um metals um and the glass and resources out of our landfill bin because unfortunately there are some that do end up in our landfill bin um and recycle them um if they are recyclable.
So,
so please try and recycle them.
Help,
help Kinston close the loop on recycling.
(19:49):
Yeah.
Uh A little insider um information as well is of all the recyclables that go into your yellow litter bin.
The steel and aluminum are the most valuable.
A lot of companies will pay top dollar for that stuff.
But like Freya said,
it's because it's actually cheaper than buying the virgin product that's taken out of a mine.
(20:10):
So that's the good stuff.
We really want that steel and aluminum.
Yeah.
No,
that's good.
Please please get that out of the landfill bin.
Awesome.
Alright.
Well,
on that note,
we might finish up today's episode.
But um thanks again,
Jules for your wonderful insights and thanks everyone for talking trash with us and we'll see the next episode which should all be about our food and garden waste bin,
(20:32):
which is pretty exciting.
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