What is recycling? Recycling takes your waste and turns it into reusable resources. We can also reduce the need to cut down trees, use virgin resources and produce greenhouse gasses by reducing our waste and/or reusing things instead of throwing them out - read on for more details.

Who should do it? Definitely you, your family and especially your children. While it can take some time to get to know what can or can’t be recycled, it’s important that it becomes a normal part of your day. Your kids will get a huge sense of achievement and learn to be responsible global citizens

Where to start? Your home! Have a separate inside bin for all your recyclable kitchen, office & bathroom waste and take empty bottles & other recyclables from your car to place into your recycling bin rather than throw it out on the run (unless there are specific recycling bins available). You can also encourage you employers or employees to do the same at home and work.

What can be recycled? Aluminium & steel cans, glass jars & bottles, PET plastic soft drink bottles, HDPE plastic milk and detergent bottles. Some paper, cardboard, newspapers & catalogues. Most containers you purchase your products in have a recycling symbol on them (mobius loop - three arrows forming a triangle) with a number in the center, all except for those with a number 6 can be recycled.

For more information visit www.sustainabilityvic.gov.au. Understanding Signs and Symbols and the Plastic Coding Symbols link

How to reduce, reuse or recycle in other ways

Around the House

• Reduce landfill by using a green waste bin for larger items and start a compost heap (bins are cheap or make your own) or worm farm for all your vegetable scraps. They both give back to your garden by providing nutrient rich organic matter to use as fertiliser
• Use concentrated versions that require less, therefore cut down on you having to buy more bottles or packets, therefore saving money at the same time
• Register for online newsletters and bills to save paper
• Don't leave taps running & shorten your showers
• Have a bucket in your shower to catch the excess water when waiting for the hot water to come through or in the kitchen sink for when you wash your vegetables Use this water on your garden

Out & About & Making purchases

• Buy products in bulk to save waste - avoid unnecessary packaging
• Take your own shopping bags & when buying fresh produce you don’t have to put every zucchini or carrot into a plastic bag, they can be purchased loose
• Be discerning when choosing convenience products like pre-packaged lunch – avoid polystyrene cups and items that are over packaged
• Ride your bike or walk, it’s great for you and the environment
• Take public transport (if practical!)
• Buy an environmentally friendly gift next time you need to make a purchase
• Take your computer or mobile phone to recycling depots that specifically handle electrical waste (most mobile phone retailers have recycling bins). These have toxic materials that should not go into landfill

Saving Energy at Work & Home

• Keep your heating or cooling on a steady temperature so it doesn't have to work so hard
• Only boil the kettle right before you need it to save having to reheat it if it's been left a while. Only put as much water as you need in the kettle
• Put lids on saucepans when boiling water
• Turn off the lights and let the sun shine in. Utilise the sun for light and heat where possible
• Make sure your home is well insulated
• Using outdoor blinds that prevent the sun from hitting your windows will keep a lot of heat out, which means your cooling system doesn't have to work as hard

Why? Simple – save the planet! Valuable resources are being used without regard for the environment or the future of the planet. Sounds like a tree hugging hippy talking? We should all be thinking about the state we are leaving our planet in for our children and their children, after all, it’s not that long ago that our grandparents couldn’t even fathom the idea of computers or the internet. A lot can happen in a short time and no one can truly predict the impact we are having today, on tomorrow, so why wouldn’t you take some care now, just in case the tree hugging hippy environmentalists are right.

More directly, recycling reduces pollution, saves energy & resources and creates jobs. The more of us that care and take action, the more pressure industry and the government is under to be environmentally conscious.

More useful links

www.cleanup.org for fact sheets on what to recycle and why it's important

Did you know you can report people littering? EPA Victoria has lots of info on being Green!

According to the Publishers National Environment Bureau - Each tonne of paper that is recycled saves: almost 13 trees, 2.5 barrels of oil, 4100 kWh of electricity, 4 cubic metres of landfill and 31, 780 litres of water.

www.pneb.com.au/recycling1.html