Why we changed our packaging to 100% recycled cardboard
Do you know what your packaging is made out of, and how you can recycle it?
It may seem fairly straight forward — but most packaging cannot be put into your recycling bin!
One of the most common recycling mistakes is throwing soft plastics, such as plastic bags, food packaging or any “scrunchable” plastic into your curbside recycling bin.
“[Soft plastics] are the number one form of contamination in the recycling system,” Planet Ark’s Brad Gray said.
“The systems aren’t designed to pick them out so they literally get caught in the conveyer belt and the whole recycling system has to be stopped so they can get them out, or after every shift people go to the machines to cut them out.”
Check out this short video from Planet Ark which shows how your recycling is processed…
In an effort to eliminate our contribution to the 8 million tonnes of plastic that ends up in our Oceans every year, we removed all plastics from our packaging and products in 2019. Now — our packaging is made from 100% recycled cardboard and can be easily recycled by being flattened and tossed into your curbside recycling bin! Cardboard can then be recycled into other products such as packaging, toilet paper and egg cartons.
But how many of your other packages can be recycled?
We conducted our own study by reviewing a range of parcels that were delivered to our office over the last fortnight…
Package #1 —
eTailbag made from Virgin LDPE plastic which was unable to be recycled after use in a curbside recycling bin as it was a “scrunchable” plastic.
Package #2 —
Made from 25% recycled plastic and unable to be recycled after use in a curbside recycling bin as it was also a “scrunchable” plastic.
Package #3 —
Unidentified composition of plastic which could not be placed into a curbside recycling bin as it was again — a “scrunchable” plastic.
It’s not all doom and gloom… The good news is that these items CAN be recycled! Keep your soft plastics together and bundle them to take to a REDcyle bin (which are usually located in metro and regional supermarkets). From there they can be turned into a huge range of recycled-plastic products, from fitness circuits to sturdy outdoor furniture, bollards, signage and more. You can read more about REDcycle and find your local drop off point here —
https://www.redcycle.net.au/what-to-redcycle/