Planet Ark is calling on Australian households to reconsider what they are letting go to waste this National Recycling Week, with conservative estimates showing 2.44 million tonnes of the total 4.9 million tonnes of materials sent to landfill each year are either recyclable or compostable.

Planet Ark estimates 9-18% (441,000 tonnes conservatively) of the material in council provided waste bins is recyclable, while a massive 41-52% (2,000,900 tonnes conservatively) could be composted at home or organic processing facilities.

“These results show that about half of what Australians currently send to landfill could actually be recycled, composted or otherwise processed, which is clearly far too much,” said Planet Ark co-CEO Rebecca Gilling.

“The good news is that with just small changes our recycling behaviours and further investment in large scale food processing and composting facilities for garden and food waste, which is already underway, we could significantly reduce the quantity of waste going to landfill.”

Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week is an excellent reminder that much of what we currently send to landfill is actually valuable material that could be reused, repurposed or recycled. This year’s theme “Waste isn’t waste until it’s wasted” is all about providing simple and practical tips that enable Australians to keep those valuable materials in circulation, whether at home, work or school.

Running from November 7-13, National Recycling Week provides opportunities for residents and workplaces to learn simple methods of reducing their environmental footprint and preventing waste. Australians can host or join recycling themed events, brush up on their recycling knowledge with educational resources, learn about new developments in recycling policy and technology or discover tricks to reduce what they are sending to landfill and ensure resources don’t go to waste.

National Recycling Week was founded in 1996 as an opportunity for Australians to take waste and recycling into their own hands by improving their recycling knowledge and building better recycling habits. According to Planet Ark’s research, the annual recycling rate in Australia has increased from just 7% to more than 60% of all disposed materials since then. In total quantities, we have gone from recycling just 1.5 million tonnes of material to a massive 43 million tonnes each year.

“Recycling in Australia has come a long way since 1996 and is highly valuable for both our environment and our economy,” said Gilling.

“But there is still more we could be doing to ensure valuable resources don’t end up wasted in landfill. That’s why this year Planet Ark wants people to pause and think about what they are currently sending to landfill and ask whether it is waste after all.”

Planet Ark’s estimates are derived from waste audits carried out in 41 councils across the country representing a population of almost five million Australians. Waste auditing is an important means of gathering information on what’s going into our bins that could be kept in circulation.

Planet Ark has a number of tools and tips to help community groups, councils, households and workplaces get involved available via the National Recycling Week Resource Hub.

National Recycling Week is made possible by Major Sponsor Coles, Associate Sponsors Coca-Cola Australia and Tetra Pak, Media Partner Seven West Media and Supporting Sponsors Australasian Recycling Label and Cartridges 4 Planet Ark.