How TerraCycle is different from your kerbside recycler

In Australia and New Zealand, most council recycling services only accept glass, paper, some types of plastics, and some metals like aluminium. And every local council area has different rules about what rubbish they accept for recycling. 

Although there’s a “technical” recycling solution for just about everything, most of what we dispose of can’t be recycled kerbside as it’s not cost effective.

Think about it this way. An aluminium can will be recycled by just about every kerbside recycling service in Australia or New Zealand. This is because aluminium cans are light, easy to crush, easy to clean and homogenous (i.e. they only contain aluminium). It’s easy and cost effective to turn aluminium cans into aluminium sheeting to create more aluminium cans.

Compare this to a tetra pack juice box which contains 20% plastic between the exterior coating and plastic cap, 75% cardboard, and 5% aluminium. Yes, it can be recycled. But it first needs to be shredded and then each of these elements separated. Then we end up with paper, plastic, and a very small amount of aluminium. This can now be recycled, but the cost of this process is much greater than the value of the recycled paper, plastic, and aluminium produced.

This is where TerraCycle comes in! We provide easy-to-use recycling options to consumers, in every post code in Australia and New Zealand, because we partner with Australia Post and NZ Post. We have also developed innovative ways to cover the difference between the cost of recycling and the value of the recycled raw materials, which means many of these recycling services are free to access.

Kerbside recycling

Kerbside recyclability depends on your local council’s ability to profit from or cover the cost of recycling an item. For this reason kerbside recycling services often accept items like paper and cardboard, glass, metals like aluminium, and some rigid plastics. There are seven types of plastic, but those with resin codes #1, #2 and sometimes #5 are usually the only ones you can recycle kerbside. 

Compare this with #4 plastic, which is low-density polyethylene (LDPE). While some rigid LDPE items can be recycled kerbside, it also comes in the form of soft or scrunchable plastics like bread bags. This plastic isn’t cost effective to recycle in Australia or New Zealand because of a lack of recycling facilities. However, this is becoming more widely available, so access may improve in time. 

Make sure to research your local recycling service and avoid wishcycling– the well-intentioned belief that something is recyclable, even when it’s not. TerraCycle is here to recycle everything your kerbside service doesn’t accept, regardless of where you live in Australia or New Zealand

TerraCycle recycling

We are different from your local kerbside recycler. TerraCycle has developed innovative ways to collect and recycle hard-to-recycle rubbish like wetsuits, beauty products, and worn-out toys! We’re able to recycle hard-to-recycle rubbish because we work with retailers who fund the recycling process. 

We offer both free and paid recycling solutions! We have free recycling programs for all kinds of waste like beauty empties and wetsuits, and our Zero Waste Boxes which enable you to recycle anything from the #4 soft plastics that councils don’t usually collect, to blister packs and office supplies. All you have to do is collect up your hard-to-recycle waste in a cardboard box, seal it well, and send it to us through your local post office.

Recycling deserts 

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to convenient kerbside recycling. A recycling desert is a community with very few recycling centres or local recycling pickups. They exist for a number of reasons, like sparse population, and lack of local recycling facilities, which increases costs of collection and transportation, making it impossible for council or local government to cover the costs. 

It’s estimated that 91 percent of Australian households have access to kerbside recycling services, with clear differences between the states and territories (the highest being 100% in the ACT and the lowest 60% in the NT). Whereas TerraCycle’s recycling programs are available to every household, in every post code from Perth to Palmerston North, from Darwin to Dunedin. You can access TerraCycle’s recycling programs regardless of where you live in Australia or New Zealand.

While TerraCycle is not a replacement for kerbside recycling, it does provide an additional option for people in these areas to recycle hard-to-recycle rubbish. Learn more about how we’re Eliminating the Idea of Waste® at terracycle.com.