We have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that more people are recycling more today than ever before. The bad news is that the way we recycle is working against our efforts. Many people unknowingly fill their recycling bin with items that are classified as contaminants, like low-grade plastics or pizza boxes.
Recycling contamination has become a global concern as it has a direct impact on the quality of recyclables entering the markets, while also increasing costs and making the whole process unsustainable.
Read on to find out the effects of recycling contamination and the solution to this global problem.
Recycling contamination starts in each of our homes – since it’s a problem we all contribute to, it can also be solved with the proper education and a willingness to change our habits.
If you’re like most people, you try to recycle as many items as possible and feel good about it too! The only problem is that you might be unintentionally mixing non-recyclables in your bin, thus contaminating most of, if not an entire batch.
And we’re not pointing a finger at you, because the truth is that it can be quite tricky to figure out what is recyclable and what isn’t. Packaging has become more complex in time and there are now very different types of plastic used for packaging everyday items. For most of us, these all fit under one category which should be recycled. Unfortunately, objects like grocery bags, zip-top bags, plastic bottle lids, rubber hoses and other common items are non-recyclable, yet they still end up in single-stream containers, contaminating large amounts of waste. Contamination has increased over the years and now sits at a whopping 25%: 1 in 4 items we put in the recycle bin are non-recyclable.
Recycling contaminations presents with many problems that hinder our recycling efforts. The most obvious problem is that materials that could be reused end up into a landfill. A small amount of contaminants can ruin a massive amount of otherwise recyclable items. For example, liquid or food placed in a recycling container will slowly saturate tonnes of cardboard and paper, rendering them useless.
Another problem of recycling contamination is the increase of costs. The more money and time required to separate contaminants, the higher the expenses. As contaminants cannot be completely removed, recyclable byproducts’ quality decreases, reducing their market value. This makes it very hard for waste management companies to make up for the cost of contamination.
While waste management companies have a significant role to play in the sustainability of recycling, the solution is mostly in our hands, quite literally. It starts with each of us doing some research in order to reduce and prevent contamination from now on.
Here are the most common contaminants that find their way to the recycling bin in many households:
The silver lining is that we CAN change things and prevent recycling contamination without too much effort. All we need to do is carefully read the instructions on packaging – they usually specify if the item is recyclable or not. A bit of research also goes a long way.
If you need a skip bin to get rid of waste, be sure to contact the most affordable and reliable bin hire in Armadale and other southern suburbs.
No matter how organised you consider yourself to be, the truth is we’re all guilty of hoarding to some degree. Your Achilles’ heel could be clothes, shoes, video games, books or objects with sentimental value. You know what we’re talking about: all the things you just can’t bring yourself to throw away and find “good” reasons not to, like “I love this T-shirt!” or “My first boyfriend gave this to me on our 2 week anniversary 20 years ago”. We’ve all been there!
When it comes to decluttering our homes, we might find ourselves incapable of deciding what to keep and how to organise things, so we give up decluttering all together. Luckily, there are experts like Marie Kondo who can guide us on this hard mission of tidying up our homes.
Let’s have a look at the KonMari method of decluttering that sparked a massive buzz on Netflix a little while ago. Read on to find out how to tidy up your home like a pro!
Often the best ideas come from slightly changing an approach that has already been used for ages. This is how the KonMari method was developed by the internationally acclaimed pro-organizer and author Marie Kondo: instead of tackling objects room-by-room, you tackle them by category. This revolutionary idea changed the lifestyle of millions of people who were struggling with hoarding and living in cluttered homes.
The KonMari method isn’t only about organising your things, but also about creating a space that contributes to your mental wellbeing. By using her approach, you can surround yourself with the objects that spark joy instead of objects that cause you stress.
Marie Kondo’s method consists of six rules:
Are you ready to declutter your home? Here’s the KonMari checklist to help you choose a category to organise.
The KonMari decluttering method will help you create a better living space for you and your family, so that any object your eyes fall on will spark joy!
Decluttering can leave you with massive piles of items you want to discard, so why not hire a handy skip bin to make things easy? We can help you with skip bins in Fremantle and other SOR suburbs!
One of the more humbling facts about modern life is the fact that, for those with the privilege to live in first world countries, the reality is that our standard of living has never been higher in human history. Our standards of food, medicine, living conditions and even waste management have all improved massively with each new generation.
But do you know what’s an even better realisation? The fact that our children will no doubt have a quality of life that far exceeds our own.
So let’s have a friendly look towards the future and find out just what awaits us in the world of modern waste management.
The times-are-a-changing and transformation is required for a bold new future, with many waste companies now shifting their focus towards converting waste into biofuel. Yes, many waste companies hope to turn waste into energy!
While thermal technologies have seen the biggest growth in the last decade, biological technologies hold great potential and could provide a major breakthrough in the energy sector.
Thus, a new (and very promising) generation of companies is coming to life. Companies like LanzaTech are starting to use bio-tech to literally eat away biodegradable trash to convert said waste into a form of bio-fuel. Pretty cool, huh?
Another almost sci-fi example is Novozymes, a company that created a solution which converts used cooking oil into biodiesel. Alchemists, eat your heart out!
One of the big things in waste management is the idea that items have a shelf life that means things must be “thrown away” eventually. Even the word implies wastage. Well, that line of thinking is changing rapidly, and items are now being recycled more efficiently than ever before.
A step up from that is the integration of wider economic systems, with certain initiatives for designers and manufacturers taking effect in the not too distant future across the globe.
By 2025, we can expect waste management companies to step up and switch from burning and burying waste to returning it as valuable resources to manufacturers.
Manufacturers themselves will need to “rewire” their process and think of today’s goods as tomorrow’s raw materials, making those initial steps towards a more renewable, long term business model. With this, the quality of the products themselves will change for the better, so that they last longer, are easier to repair and to dismantle.
This is mostly done, on a more literal level, by closing what’s referred to as “resource loops” in the process of using key materials for goods in the marketplace, seeing through the lifespan of a product from it’s initial usage all the way to its final usage much later.
This should hopefully create in the next decade or two a complete and harmonious system of circular good use and minimal waste creation.
Here’s undeniable proof that we are spoiled for choice and living a (bit too) plentiful life: half of the food produced on the globe ends up in the bin. The Government estimates food waste costs the Australian economy $20 billion each year! We’re all guilty of wasting food, but how can we change that?
An idea that is becoming more popular is that of implementing smart cards, which would charge consumers for the waste they produce. This might sound a bit harsh, but this sort of measure can change public attitude faster than you can say “food waste”.
It has already been tried and successfully tested in South Korea – residents scan their smart cards, weigh their rubbish and are billed for the corresponding wastage. This would make anyone think twice before chucking those leftovers in the bin!
The future is bright if companies and consumers are prepared to take the plunge and commit to a more sustainable future, changing their attitude to rubbish.
In the meantime, Bonza Bins are here to help you take care of your waste. For skip bins in Fremantle and other South of the River suburbs, get in touch today!
Everybody knows about recycling, but it seems like fewer people really know the ins and outs of how to do it in detail. With climate change on the rise, however, it seems like now is a more important time than ever to try and bring down our carbon footprint and recycle as much as we can to keep our planet as healthy as possible.
So, let’s get to it!
First off, let’s cover the basics here. In Australia, most home recyclables can essentially be broken down into one of two categories:
Paper and Cardboard:
Items you can recycle that are paper and cardboard usually take the form of one of these listed below:
Containers:
As a side note, in case the above seems confusing, most items made of certain plastics aluminium, steel and glass can all still be recycled, so don’t immediately go for the waste bin with these items.
This is also a pretty good segway towards another neat little list we have on stuff that can’t actually be recycled:
Most of those should honestly be pretty obvious. But we won’t judge if you were taken by surprise by at least one.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “what about stuff like plastic bags? How do I recycle those? CAN I recycle those?” – Well, there is a pretty basic solution to that.
Most grocery stores actually will take back plastic bags for recycling purposes, so you can, more often than not, simply hand them over on your next groceries trip.
For the most part, there are actually a massive number of specialist recycling programs that you can take advantage of that handle everything from soft plastics, tubes and everything in between.
Need help with environmentally friendly waste management in your home or business? Contact Bonza Bins today for premium Canning Vale skip bins.
Moving is always an equally exciting and terrifying experience. On one hand, you have the joy and novelty of moving into a new home with new surroundings.
On the other hand, moving house also means dealing with the massive amount of waste that seems to suddenly multiply the minute you start breaking out the moving boxes. It’s a terrible reality we all have to face when moving, but luckily there is a way to stem the tide of junk and waste from ruining an otherwise pleasant moving experience.
Establishing a checklist of everything for moving is going to help massively with your experience. Go room by room and figure out what you need to take and what you don’t. This is going to help keep you organised and make things a lot easier when it comes time to actually unpack all those boxes. Similarly, you’re also going to be able to actually keep track of what you’re doing without getting scattered and distracted every few minutes. (Don’t worry, we’ve all done it. No judgement.)
Start packing early. That sounds super obvious, but the reality is that for most, the idea of moving never really seems to settle in until the moving truck arrives. Get started on your packing a few weeks beforehand and start slowly chipping through your list of stuff until the big moving day arrives. You’ll be ahead of the game with your prep and you’ll be able to suss out what is and what isn’t junk well beforehand, making getting rid it much simpler and quicker.
Now, we know we said earlier that you need to make a checklist, and that’s still true, but we’d also recommend running a second list that specifically covers junk. That is going to make double sure that you know exactly what items are in your house that you won’t be taking to your new home and what needs to be thrown away. Once you have that list, it’s going to be a lot easier to figure out how to get rid of everything.
One of the biggest barriers to effective waste management is figuring out just what to do with all of those damn batteries and electronics that always seem to multiply when you’re not looking. Whether it’s batteries, cables or old cell phones, the piles of unused electronics always grow and there never seems to be any clear idea on how to get rid of them!
Most of the time, a rubbish removal company will happily take care of this issue for you if you can’t be bothered. However, in the event you’d like to handle it all yourself, then get that e-waste organised and ready in its own separate box and deliver it to your local drop off point, which is usually somewhere near a library or youth centre in your area.
If you’re unsure, have a look through your local council website to learn where the drop off point for e-waste is located.
And that’s it! Follow these simple rules and you’ll be well prepared for whatever your house throws at you!
Need help with environmentally friendly waste management in your home or business? Contact Bonza Bins today for premium South of the River and Fremantle skip bins.
In history, the (lack of) waste management decreased sanitation, urban living levels and led to widespread diseases. Now, with a growing population and climate change threatening our environment, many people are rethinking our pollution on a global scale, and in the home.
A modern world calls for up-to-date, environmentally-friendly waste management.
Sanitary Landfill
Sanitary landfill refers to the well-designed and engineered set-up to ensure environmental protection. It’s all about the layers:
Landfill has been a relatively inexpensive and convenient waste management option for some time. However, it’s not the most environmentally friendly technique and not viable for generations to come.
Recycling
While it may not sound particularly ground-breaking, recycling is the most common and potentially advantageous waste disposal method, and it’s constantly being refined and improved! It’s great for the environment and provides economic value to the individual and the economy.
Responsible waste disposers will always promote recycling. It’s one of the most environmentally-friendly things you can do when considering waste removal options. Eco skip bin hire companies will separate the waste according to its recycling abilities, maximising the amount that is repurposed and reducing the amount put into landfill.
Composting and Biological Reprocessing
Cheap, easy and natural, composting breaks down organic waste and turns it into rich manure.
Composting your organic waste greatly improves soil quality. Instead of binning your ‘scraps,’ put them on your garden soil, mix it through and see for yourself how healthy it will become.
Similar to composting, biological reprocessing is only applicable to organic waste, such as:
Biological reprocessing helps speed up the natural decomposition, forming a mulch or compost which is fantastic for agricultural purposes.
Incineration and Waste to Energy
Waste reduces by an average of 95% when processed in an incineration plant. It’s great waste management for areas with not a lot of land and there’s no lingering bad smell or methane production.
However, a lot of resources are needed to incinerate waste. On the bright side though, the energy produced can be used for many other purposes.
Waste to energy saves the planet from non-recyclable items. This waste management technique generates heat, electricity or fuel from the waste. The waste to energy technology is a modern alternative to fossil fuels and helps reduce carbon emissions – Bonus!
Constant revisions of waste management techniques are vital for our future. From industrial to residential waste, these modern techniques are great in destroying the majority of our waste, even repurposing it for the better.
Bonza Bins are the leading environmentally friendly provider of skip bins in Armadale and around Perth’s southern suburbs.
Need help with your waste management? Contact Bonza Bins for prompt and affordable service.
Despite companies pushing for ‘paperless’ mail, good, old-fashioned paper mail still enters our mailboxes. Occasionally, we receive mail we want, like lovingly handwritten cards and invitations, but most of the time it’s just dreaded bills. Depending on where you live and the local mail-droppers adherence to ‘NO JUNK MAIL’ signs, you’re probably getting a lot of junk mail, too.
Nevertheless, once bills are paid and thanks given to the senders of personal mail, where should you dispose of all that paper mail?
Recycling packaging and envelopes
Our parcels are generally contained in a box or sleeve cardboard packaging. Luckily, cardboard packaging is a very easy thing to recycle. Simply collapse the box or sleeve into a smaller form and pop them straight into your yellow recycling bin.
With plain envelopes, put them straight into your recycling bin. Envelopes with plastic windows, however, generally can’t be recycled. So, remove the plastic film, place it into your general waste bin, and the plain envelope leftovers into your recycling bin. Likewise, padded/bubbled envelopes have the same non-recyclable fate, so in the general waste bin they go.
Recycling letters and postage stamps
By all means keep letters that hold sentimental value, like a birthday card from your favourite international relative or postcards from travelling friends.
If you’re receiving a letter with confidential information on it though, be sure to shred it before you dispose of the letter. You wouldn’t want your confidential information ending up in the wrong hands due to insufficient waste disposal.
Did you know that postage stamps are recyclable?
So, next time you recycle a plain envelope in your recycling bin, feel free to leave them on.
Alternatively, many people collect postage stamps and charities use them too. Why not gift your postage stamps to your stamp-collecting loved one, or contact a local charity to see if stamps are useful in craft activities?
Recycling junk mail and junk removal
Whether we like it or not, most of us still receive an unruly amount of junk mail from local businesses.
The good news is catalogues, brochures and magazines can all be put in your recycling bin.
If you want to take it one step further, it’s also smart to invest in a ‘No Junk Mail’ sign or sticker for your letterbox to cut down on the amount you’re receiving. And then just pray to the paperless goods that they actually abide by it!
Recycling is the least we can do for our environment. We all have good intentions, but sometimes we don’t always know what’s recyclable and what’s not. A lot of our mail is recyclable.
Bonza Bins prides itself on a commitment to a greener future. All skips are covered and bought back to recycling centres or transfer stations where waste is sorted and where possible recycled. Materials such as concrete, soil, greens, metal, paper, timber are all recycled, lessening the amount of rubbish going directly to landfill.
Need help with environmentally friendly waste management in your home or business? Contact Bonza Bins today for premium South of the River and Fremantle skip bins.
Moving house is no small feat. The process can be even harder if you’re a cash-strapped and time-poor student. Whether you’re a student making the big leap and moving out of home for the first time, or just moving from one share house to another, skip bin hire is something to consider.
Students and Waste
Research shows that people aged 18-24 are more wasteful than others. So, the amount of waste you have to get rid of pre-move may be more than your general bin can take.
There are a number of usual causes, including:
Of course, this doesn’t apply to all young people, and all students – but being a student out of home does generally mean more independence and bigger priorities than keeping on top of housework. Freedom, self-sufficiency, late nights and stress can take a toll on yourself and your house.
This is what not to do when managing your waste whilst moving to a new house.
What not to do with your waste
You could be prosecuted for illegal dumping so always check verge collection pickup dates.
Even if they rarely helped with the dishes, don’t be disrespectful. If your name’s on the lease, you’re responsible for returning the house in a good condition.
Your rubbish doesn’t have to be a burden. Portfolios of old, useless study notes from a unit two years ago do not need to go with you to your new home.
What to do with your waste
Minimalism is in, so only take essentials and a few homely items on your next move. Some of us are more sentimental than others, but we don’t need to take boxes filled with childhood figurines, photos and scrapbooks.
Leave most of your precious keepsakes at your parent’s house and throw out things you don’t need.
Decluttering before you move is a must. Not only will you have less ‘junk’ when you move, but you’ll also free up more space in your new home.
Your working and living space have a tremendous effect on your mental clarity. As a student, you need to boost mental clarity wherever and whenever possible. So, toss what you don’t need into a skip bin, or give it to someone who would re-use it.
Your local Canning Vale skip bins are here to manage your waste and prepare for moving day. Skip bin hire in Canning Vale and across the Perth metro area is the easiest (and legal) way to manage your student waste. Why stress about trying to squeeze things in your bin over multiple weeks when you can split the cost of a skip and get rid of everything in one go.
When moving, it pays to ruthlessly declutter and be mindful of your waste disposal. Contact Bonza Bins today to book a bin for the easy solution to student waste management.
Spring cleaning season is upon us, which makes now the perfect time to clear out the clutter and create space in your life!
A clutter-free home is proven to provide plenty of benefits beyond the obvious improved look and general cleanliness of your home.
Read our latest blog to discover five great reasons to declutter your home.
Do you sometimes feel like you’re suffocated by “stuff” in your living space?
When we declutter and remove the junk and unwanted items we’ve been holding onto, our physical space becomes lighter, more open and less overwhelming. But not only does decluttering clear your physical space, it also clears your mind.
Your space can have a great impact on your mental clarity. With a decluttered space, there is less around you competing for your attention allowing you to concentrate on the things that are most important.
When you make the decision to keep something or throw it out, you’re making the decision on what items are most important to you. This can encourage better purchase-making in the future, allowing you to avoid unnecessary spending.
Further, with greater mental clarity, this can spread and allow you to recognise what the important things are in other areas of your life.
Clearing out all your unwanted items allows you to donate them to charity. If you have clothes, accessories, homewares or electrical goods in decent condition they can be donated to various charities who will get great use out of them.
You can donate old blankets and towels to animal shelters, clothes and accessories to homeless and women’s shelters or any other unwanted goods can be dropped off at your local op shop – we bet it makes you feel good too.
We all want a clean and fresh space to live in, but cleaning can often feel like an endless chore.
A declutter not only gives you the opportunity for a deep clean of your house, but also reduces the amount of cleaning you have to do later – No more needless clutter collecting unnecessary dust!
Ever found yourself struggling to find somewhere to put new things? Perhaps you’ve run out of space from excess clutter.
If you live in an apartment or smaller home, utilising space well is essential. By removing items you no longer use or need, you create space for the new and release your home from a claustrophobic feeling.
If you haven’t decluttered in some time, you might need a heavy-duty bin.
You can hire a skip bin from Bonza Bins and make your decluttering process a breeze. It’s the perfect way to remove unwanted junk! We offer quick delivery and affordable prices and will sort through the waste and recycle where possible.
If you’re looking to hire a skip bin, Bonza Bins offers premium skip bins in Armadale and all across Perth. Contact us to make a booking today.
The results are in and Perth’s southern suburbs have topped the list for Australia’s best recyclers!
Data collected from the MyCouncil website found that the Town of East Fremantle and City of Cockburn lead the way for recycling with 61% of material recovered from waste collected, and the City of Fremantle sits at number five with 54% material recovery.
“As a One Planet council we have a target of achieving a 70% community recycling rate by 2020, so while ranking in the top five is a terrific outcome there’s still room for improvement,” Fremantle Mayor Pettitt said.
This is an incredible step in the right direction for recycling efforts and becoming an environmentally conscious city as a whole.
Keep reading to find out why recycling is so important and how you can improve your recycling habits.
The Importance of Recycling
There are countless reasons recycling is an important part of our environmental upkeep. The most important part of recycling is reducing the amount of waste going into landfills. When recyclable or organic waste is left to decompose in landfills without oxygen, they produce greenhouse gases that are emitted into the ozone layer and contribute to global warming.
Additionally, proper recycling limits the amount of plastic and waste that ends up in our oceans, destroying marine ecosystems and harming ocean life.
How to Up Your Recycling Game
Want to join Perth’s southern suburbs in being a recycling hero? Here are five handy tips to get the most out of recycling:
When in doubt, always remember the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Bonza Bins are proud to service Fremantle and we’re dedicated to ensuring your waste is properly managed and sorted. Recycling is incredibly important for our health and the environment. That’s why we make every effort to recycle as much from our skip bins as possible.
If you require a fast, efficient and friendly service with great prices, call Bonza Bins, your Fremantle skip bin provider, on (08) 9331 7271.
