During the last week I’ve been trying to put one item every day into the charity bag, the garage sale boxes or the bin. And to get my hubby to try to do the same.
I’ve been doing ok but this idea wasn’t very well received by him. He’s awfully attached to his “stuff”. You never know, he might need it one day.
So, instead of forcing him to declutter, I asked him to reduce his MOOP – to relocate one thing every day. Something that’s been sitting around and just hasn’t been put away.
If you know about Burning Man then you’ve probably heard of MOOP … Matter Out Of Place. Things that are just not where they should be.
This has been a bit more successful than making him give up his treasures. I’ll keep working on that.
This week I was delighted to find out that one of our local supermarkets has become a collection point for soft plastics. I prefer not to buy pre-packaged groceries, but sometimes it’s hard to avoid. So, for those that we do have, we now have another option for some of the packaging, rather than putting it in the general waste.
There’s going to have to be some rethinking to change our habits. Here’s the list of what we can recycle:
YES PLEASE!
- Biscuit packets (outer wrapper only)
- Bread bags (without the tie)
- Bubble wrap (large sheets cut into A3 size pieces)
- Cereal box liners
- Chip and cracker packets (silver lined)
- Chocolate and snack bar wrappers
- Cling Wrap – free of food residue
- Confectionery bags
- Dry pet food bags
- Fresh produce bags
- Frozen food bags
- Green bags (Polypropylene Bags)
- Ice cream wrappers
- Large sheets of plastic that furniture comes wrapped in (cut into A3 size pieces)
- Netting produce bags (any metal clips removed)
- Newspaper and magazine wrap
- Pasta bags
- Plastic Australia Post satchels
- Plastic carrier bags from all stores
- Plastic film wrap from grocery items such as nappies and toilet paper
- Plastic sachets
- Potting mix and compost bags (cut into A3 size pieces and free of as much product as possible)
- Rice bags
- Snap lock bags / zip lock bags
- Squeeze pouches with lid on (e.g. yogurt/baby food)
- Wine bladders – clear plastic ones only
And what you can’t …
NO THANKS!
- Plastic bottles
- Plastic containers
- Any rigid plastic such as meat trays, biscuit trays or strawberry punnets
- Adhesive tape
- Blister packs, tablets and capsule packaging
- Blow up pools and pool toys – plastic or PVC
- Bread bag tags
- Cat and dog food pouches (these are predominantly foil)
- Cellophane from bunches of flowers
- Christmas tinsel and Christmas trees
- Coffee bags
- Cooler bags
- Disposable food handling gloves of any variety
- Drinking straws
- Film negatives and x-rays
- Foam or polystyrene of any kind
- Foil / Alfoil of any kind
- Food waste
- Glass
- Laminated materials and overhead transparencies
- Medical waste materials
- Paper and cardboard
- Paper post packs
- Plastic/clear vinyl packaging from sheets and doonas etc
- Plastic packaging that has contained meat
- Plastic strapping used for securing boxes and pallets
- Powdered milk packets, made of foil
- Rubber, rubber gloves, latex
- Tarpaulins
- Tin cans
- VHS Tape
- Wet plastic materials as mould is a problem for us
- Wine bladders – foil based
- Wrapping paper and cardboard, ribbons or bows
If you live in Australia you can check the Redcycle site to see if there’s a soft plastics collection point near you and look for these bins.
flying goannas 
I hadn’t heard of this ‘soft plastic’ business. Our supermarket will stop using plastic bags this year. Up to now, we’ve been paying 5c a bag which goes to local charities. I get bags when I run out of bin liners, as 5c a bag was cheaper than a packet. Oh, well, better remember my green bags.
And I sympathize with Mr Flying Goannas – I’m pretty attached to my ‘stuff’ too! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s quite a comprehensive list of recycling! I don’t know of anywhere here that accepts that sort of plastic. I like the MOOP idea. I live with someone who never puts anything away … eventually, I give in and do it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not all that good at it myself so I’m trying to improve my own habits as well. Baby steps.
LikeLiked by 1 person