Plastic is one of those materials used widely in producing many daily life products. It is recyclable, convertible, and reusable for producing many new or similar products. But what Colour bin does plastic go in? That’s really a concern if you don’t know the basic recycling rules of plastic and in which bin the plastic shall be kept.
Table of Contents
- Should Plastic Or Plastic Products Be In A Recycling Bin?
- What Colour Bin Does Plastic Usually Go In?
- Why Shouldn’t Plastic Go To Landfills Instead Of Recycling Bins?
- In Which Bins Plastic Goes In The UK?
- In Which Bin Plastic Goes In Australia?
- In Which Bin Plastic Goes In The United States Of America?
- Shall Plastic Be In A Green Recycling Bin?
- Can You Keep Plastic With Other Materials Inside A Recycling Bin?
- What Type Of Plastic Should Go Into The Recycling Bin?
- How Plastic Recycling Works In Recycling Bins Inside USA?
- Final Thoughts:
- References:
Please keep reading until the end as you will know where recycling bin plastic deserves to go. Let’s get started!
Should Plastic Or Plastic Products Be In A Recycling Bin?
For all sakes, plastic is fully considerable to sent to your nearest recycling center.
But for that, it must be at a certain place where it must be valued and easily picked up for a recycling or trash pick-up day.
Therefore, recyclers around the town or companies that recycle recyclable materials are advised to keep plastic in some specific bins.
These bins are highly helpful to keep you well settled on all the things read for recycling.
So, these plastic products shall always be inside those dedicated and specific recycling bins placed around the corner.
What Colour Bin Does Plastic Usually Go In?
That’s true that plastic shall be in recycling bins. But what specific color bins will be that will keep this plastic inside? It certainly changes with the state.
I mean to say, depending on the govt rules and regulations regarding recycling bins to keep plastic preserved and organized at a specific place.
Usually, a Blue Recycling bin is highly recommended to keep plastic materials and products made from plastic. It might sometimes be a yellow recycling bin or a red bin. However, always check the rules and regulations to find in which bin to keep plastic from your local recyclers wherever you live.
Some authorities may recommend that a Green recycling bin is good for keeping plastic. But that’s not really the case.
A green recycling bin is highly dedicated to keeping green yard waste that shall be thrown into landfills. It helps in composting.
You can read about all of these recycling bins from the recycle bin color code guide we already have complied. Because this will provide more information to you!
Why Shouldn’t Plastic Go To Landfills Instead Of Recycling Bins?
Sending plastic waste to landfills instead of keeping it in the recycling bins for recyclable purposes is not a good idea.
Because you know that plastic is recyclable. So, what’s the point of contaminating your environment with its lots of harmful effects?
Yes, that’s true. It is not that plastic doesn’t decompose into landfills; the problem is the time it takes to decompose.
Usually, plastic products such as those plastic bottles take up to 450 years to decompose fully.
This means that during this time, it will still harm the environment by producing harmful gases, causing many health problems.
Therefore, you must always help your country save plastic and use it for the right purposes.
Because nobody has the costs to pay for mining, discovering those hidden resources, and then using them again to make daily life products for you.
In Which Bins Plastic Goes In The UK?
As I said, it depends on the government as to which color recycling bin it allows to keep what type of materials inside it.
When you are in the UK, you will find red recycling bins allowed to keep plastic inside.
But even in the UK, it is fully decided by the officials who deal with the recyclables and organize them to keep them for recycling purposes.
In Which Bin Plastic Goes In Australia?
Now, putting plastic inside a recycling bin in Australia is different from the UK. There, in Australia, a yellow recycling bin is used to keep plastic inside.
Anything made of plastic can be kept inside a yellow recycling bin.
Therefore, whenever you find a yellow recycling bin, consider having plastic inside it, organized, managed, and sorted.
In Which Bin Plastic Goes In The United States Of America?
However, that’s totally dependent on the ones who are responsible for recycling plastic and other materials. Still, a blue recycling bin is generally placed to keep plastic inside.
Therefore, consider putting your plastic products there whenever you see a blue recycling bin.
But always read the instructions printed on it carefully and know what exactly that recycling bin is entitled to keep.
Shall Plastic Be In A Green Recycling Bin?
Do you know composting?
Yes, you do! How do we actually compost? Like, only when we have that waste which shall be inside into the composting.
This happens when you keep collecting your yard waste inside a green recycling bin. But yard waste doesn’t include plastic inside it.
Therefore, it is true that no matter what, a green bin is not really entitled to keep plastic inside.
However, you can have your green waste in that bin to keep it organized and separated from other wastes in your house. Plastic will adjust itself somewhere else.
Can You Keep Plastic With Other Materials Inside A Recycling Bin?
That’s true that not only the plastic goes inside a specific recycling bin. Some recyclable collectors in the USA, UK, AU and other countries of the world consider some recycling bins as mixed bins.
These mixed bins are usually red and yellow, and blue recycling bins.
All of these recycling bins are sometimes used to keep the same materials that are highly recyclable.
These materials have the following types, and they actually include plastic, like always.
- Plastic itself
- Metal (aluminum and steel)
- Paper (all types of cleaned paper)
- Glass (all types of glass items, including jars, etc.)
What Type Of Plastic Should Go Into The Recycling Bin?
Plastic is classified into a total of 7 types. All these types of plastic are recyclable and can be kept inside a recycling bin for recycling purposes.
From numbers 1 to 6, all plastic materials are easily recyclable. But the number 7 is a raw material that might not be recyclable.
However, if you need to ensure what plastic products are inside a recycling bin, please have a look!
- All types of empty, clean, and dry plastic containers have recycling stamps from 1 to 7.
- Clean food containers that shall not include any polystyrene foam.
- The water bottles for recycling.
- Plastic milk jugs (always consider putting the plastic paper milk cartoons in the landfills).
- All those plastic buckets without having handles
- Baby wipe containers made from plastic
- Household cleaning containers that must be empty
- Laundry baskets made from plastic material
- Shampoo and conditioning bottles made from plastic
- Lids and caps remaining on their fully associated container( but consider putting the pump/spray lids into the landfills)
- Prescription water bottles that shall be empty and have that personal information removed
- Small plastic toys that shall be made from pure plastic. It doesn’t include rubber or metal
- The dressing bottles made for salad keeping that shall be empty, clean, and dry
- Detergent water bottles
- CRV beverage containers and more
- Bleach bottles and what not?
How Plastic Recycling Works In Recycling Bins Inside USA?
Understanding recycling inside the United States Of America is very simple. You must visit a plant or industry site to have a profound understanding.
But in most cases, recycling inside the USA has the following things to discuss.
Collecting Plastic From Various Sources:
At first, the housekeepers or office owners are asked to keep plastic inside a specific recycling bin of unique color. It could be anyone, either a blue bin, red or yellow recycling bin.
Keep gathering plastic products as most of the ones recommended above.
But always ensure that these products are cleaned, dried, and empty before putting them inside a recycling bin.
Plastic Disposed of By Recycling Centers:
Once that recycling bin is full, you will contact your local recyclable collectors.
Or either it’s gonna be a recycling day where the recyclable collectors will visit your place and empty your recycling bins.
This collected material will be sent to the next facilitation center where it will be treated as it should.
Organizing, Sorting, And Recycling Of Plastic:
These van’s collected plastic material will be thrown on the ground at any recycling unit. The labor or machines will separate each material.
I mean to say, if these recyclables have been collected these materials from the same bin, including plastic, they will be separated and placed separately.
This will include all types of plastic products listed above.
However, if they have only collected and dispatched plastic to a certain place, that’s going to be easy for recycling. Because there will be no labor, costs, time, and energy consumption.
Recycling And New Products:
Once the previous step is done perfectly, these sorted plastic products will send to the recycling machines.
There, these will be converted into small pieces, melted, and then converted into raw material for further usage. It will go on making new and similar products from these materials.
Final Thoughts:
Conclusively, what Colour bin does plastic go in is wholly decided by the ones responsible for collecting and recycling plastic. And I hope you know all about that if you have paid attention. But suppose you have thoughts regarding anything, such as asking queries or letting go of the confusion. In that case, you are most welcome to have a conversation.
In the end, it’s been a pleasure that you’ve been here for this while. Keep visiting and keep exploring more about recycling bins on this website. Have a blessed day!
References:
James is an organic fertilizer professional who owns a successful organic fertilizer company in new jersey. He is an expert in waste management in both houses and community cases. In his free time, he loves to write about his experiences in the field.