What you can do

Living Sustainably

Recycling

Did you know?

Australians are the second highest waste producers in the world.

We throw away 3.3 million tonnes of food a year - the equivalent of a quarter of the nations food supply.

The good news is households are recycling nearly 46% of their waste in some NSW council areas. Australians are among the best newspapers recyclers in the world, recycling 74.5% of newspapers in 2005. We're also now recycling 2.3 billion aluminium cans a year – that's 600 million more than ten years ago.

But there's a lot more we can do. Recycling has advanced and we can now remove a wider range of contaminants and can recycle more than just cans and paper.

What can I do?

Reducing waste means thinking about - and changing - our consumption and disposal behaviour. It means looking at the 'life cycle' of a product and questioning ourselves from when we first purchase something (do I really need this?) - to when we think it's time for disposal (do I need to throw this away? Can somebody else use this?).

Recycling is about resource management and conservation, saving energy and water, reducing pollution and waste. Recycle at every opportunity and use the tip only as a last resort.

Easy ways you can recycle your household waste:

Sort everything, check and remove any contaminants – non-recyclables such as plastic bags, hangers, lids, cigarette butts and crockery can ruin an entire kerbside collection or waste transfer bin load
Collect and deposit recyclable materials in the correct kerbside recycling bin – or take them directly to a waste recovery or recycling facility
Look for the recyclable symbol on plastic containers and check the number – most councils collect numbers 1, 2 and 3, and some also accept 4, 5, 6, and 7
Reject plastic bags – take your own bag with you when shopping
Start composting and set-up a worm farm
Mulch or chip prunings for reuse in your garden or use your green kerbside recycling system
Shop smartly – avoid unnecessary packaging and buy only what you need
Support and select products using recycled-content or minimal packaging
Look for ways to reuse, renovate or recycle other household goods – give unwanted goods a new lease of life
Sort out and drop off your household chemical waste – take advantage of the Household Chemical Collection program
Support and take advantage of council and local business recycling initiatives – make contact and investigate options for recycling your unwanted items such as mobile phones, furniture, appliances and electrical equipment
Return unwanted medicines and used printer cartridges
Give unwanted items to charity or local second-hand shop
Have a garage sale or advertise unwanted items on community noticeboards