Facts & Figures

• Each Australian household generates about 400 kilograms of waste per year, placing us amongst the top 10 generators of household waste in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

• Recycling refers to the processing of products or materials into similar products or using them as secondary raw materials in producing new products. With recycling, less energy is consumed, less virgin material is used, less damage is caused to the environment and a lot of landfill space is saved.

• The reduction of organic waste from waste streams is important because it could reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 3%, and significantly reduce the volume of landfill.

• In March 2003 around 95% of Australian households recycled waste and around 83% re-used wastes. High levels of recycling and re-use were shown in all states and territories and the levels of recycling and re-use are virtually unchanged since 2000 (although they have increased compared to 1996).

• Very few households (2%) do not recycle or re-use wastes.

• [In March 2003] More than 80% of Australian households recycled or re-used glass, plastic bags, plastic bottles, old clothing, paper and cardboard. Paper and cardboard was the waste most likely to be recycled, with 88% of Australian households recycling paper or cardboard.

• [In March 2003] All types of households had high levels of recycling and re-use. For example, couples with children and households with all members aged 15 years and over had the highest levels of recycling paper (91% and 92% respectively) and the lowest level shown was for one person households (83%).

• [In March 2003] Kerbside collections of recyclable waste were used by 87% of households.

• [In March 2003] A variety of hazardous wastes are generated by households and nearly 86% of households use their usual waste collection to dispose of these.

• [In March 2003] 83% of households disposing of hazardous wastes did not use safe waste disposal services. Of the people disposing of hazardous wastes but not using these facilities, 60% were not aware that such facilities existed.

• Batteries are the most common form of hazardous waste disposed of by Australian households, with 94% of those disposing of them via their usual rubbish collection.

• For nine consecutive years, items within the ‘plastic’ category have been the major source of rubbish found. In 2003, the proportion of plastic increased from 33% in 2002 to 36% of total items surveyed, outweighing all other categories. (Rubbish Report 2003, Clean Up Australia).

• Paper/cardboard was the second most common source material found (18%), followed by metal/aluminium (15%), miscellaneous items (13%) and glass amounting to 12%. (Rubbish Report 2003, Clean Up Australia).

• Direct [marine] pollution can occur through deliberate disposal and accidental loss of substances at sea whilst indirect pollution can result from land-based activities. It has been estimated that at least 40% of marine contaminants come from land-based sources.

• Product stewardship, where businesses are required to take greater responsibility for their products and to organise and support take-back and recovery schemes, is a growing global trend.

• Around 320,000 tonnes of glass jars and bottles were recycled last year (2002) – that’s around 1.2 billion bottles diverted away from landfill.

• Last year (2002), Australians recycled almost 500,000 of the 685,000 tonnes of newsprint that they used. That is equivalent to around one billion newspapers. Most of this newsprint was recycled through kerbside collection systems.

• In 2002 we recycled 48,500 tonnes of the steel cans used in Australia – that is enough steel to rebuild the Harbour Bridge today almost 4 times!

• All steel cans are recyclable, even aerosols, food, oil and paint cans. Steel jam jar lids and bottle tops can also be recycled. Put lids into an empty food can and squash in the top to stop them from falling out.

• Last year (2002), Australia recycled over 31,000 tonnes of aluminium drink cans – that’s 63% of the cans we used last year or around 2 billion individual cans.

• Twenty aluminium cans can be recycled with the same energy required to produce one new can from raw materials. Recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours.

• Plastics are made from fossil fuels. Making plastic from recycled materials uses only 30% of the energy required to make plastic products from fossil fuels.

• The rate of generation of electronic scrap in Australia is large, and is accelerating. There are approximately 9 million computers, 5 million printers and 2 million scanners currently in households and businesses across Australia, and all of these will be replaced, most within the next couple of years.