Sustainable Onkaparinga has issued a plea to the community for more care to be taken with recycling paper, folllowing recent contamination issues.

It says it is seeing large amounts of label backing paper turning up in kerbside recycling bins every fortnight.

These backing sheets might look like paper, but they are not recyclable as they are coated with plastic or silicone.

This stops the labels from sticking but also means the materials can’t be separated for recycling.

When these materials go through the recycling facility, they wrap around machinery, forcing operators to stop the entire line 2–4 times a day so someone can climb into the unit and cut the tangled strips off the spindles. 

Sustainable Onkaparinga is asking for help to stop this happening by keeping label backing sheets out of yellow-lid recycling bins and putting them in the general waste bins.

Businesses using labels or label printers are asked to check their bins and help spread the word.