MGC Recycling HUB - can you help us make a difference?

At MGC we’re becoming a real recycling hub for our community. This is super exciting! Families of MGC can bring in their unwanted clothing, shoes and accessories and place in the SCR collection station near the Lyceum entrance. We have also saved a lot of our e-waste from landfill by having access to a Tekflow collection bin, a few times throughout the year. But we don’t want to leave it there. Below is a list of things your child can bring in from home and we’ll make sure it gets recycled properly. This is all thanks to a couple of companies called Terracycle and Banish.

From now on, there will be 3 boxes above the microwaves in the main staffroom. Your child can ask a staff member to put your recyclable stuff in the right box. Of course, you can very easily set up a system in your own home or workplace and do the same thing. Check out Terracycle.com.au or Banish.com.au for details.

Here’s what you can bring:

Plastic toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and dental floss containers. Red Box
Blister packs. What are these? – the stuff medicine comes in. They look like this (and obviously make sure they’re empty). Brown box
Beauty packaging. See below list for acceptable items. Green box

What can go in this box	What can’t go in this box
Empty plastic bottles and pumps from skin care and hair care	Aerosol cans
Empty glass bottles, jars and pots from skin care	Perfume bottles
Caps and tubes in regular, travel and sample sizes	Nail polish and nail polish remover bottles
Empty foundation bottles, compacts, lipsticks and gloss, eyeshadow palettes, mascara, eye and brow liners	Electric items like blow dryers and hair straighteners
	Any bio medical or bio hazardous waste
	Any contents of packaging such as nail polish, lotion, soap and ointments

And as always, if possible, please keep the packaging in lunches to a minimum and provide your child with reusable, washable masks. (According to a report by OceansAsia a marine conservation group based in Hong Kong, an estimated 1.56 billion single use face masks entered oceans in 2020 alone. That’s a lot of plastic that will affect animals and ecosystems for many years to come).

Thanks for supporting MGC to keep as much waste as possible from landfill!

Paula McIntosh

Sustainability Team.