Facts and figures

Facts and figures on recycling, waste, transport and energy usage in Australia.

Paper

There are 40,000 sheets A4 sheets of paper in 1 tonne of paper
Approximately 600,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard are sent to landfill in NSW each year - this equates to 1,800,000 cubic metres of landfill space
Recycling 1 tonne of paper and cardboard saves approximately 13 trees and 1,438 litres of oil
Every 100 reams of recycled office paper that is printed double sided saves 2 trees, more than a tonne of greenhouse gas and almost a cubic metre of landfill space
Producing paper from recovered fibres consumes 60% less energy and 55% less water than manufacturing paper from virgin pulp

Australia produces over 1 million tonnes of aluminium, accounting for about 8% of world production
5 tonnes of bauxite (aluminium ore) are used to make 1 tonne of aluminium drink cans
It takes 95% less energy to make aluminium from scrap than from virgin materials
Producing 20 aluminium cans by recycling uses the same amount of energy as 1 can produced from virgin material
Recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to run a 100 watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours
The production of 1 tonne of aluminium consumes 14,000 kWh of electricity, equivalent to 4 years electricity consumption for an average household
Steel can be recycled over and over again, it does not deteriorate with recycling
Recycling steel requires 80% less energy than steel made from virgin material
It takes around 15,000 steel cans to form 1 tonne of recycled steel

Each tonne of glass made from recycled materials saves 1.1 tonnes of raw materials
Glass can be recycled over and over again, it does not deteriorate with recycling
Recycling 1 glass bottle saves enough energy to run a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hours, a computer for 25 minutes, a TV for 20 minutes, or a washing machine for 10 minutes
Australia manufactures more than 1 million tonnes of glass per year but only about 33% of this is recycled
Recycled glass requires 40% less energy than glass made from virgin material

Australia produces more than 1.3 million tonnes of plastic each year - more than 71 kg for every person
69% of plastic waste comes from packaging and materials handling
Recycling 1 tonne of plastics saves enough energy to run a fridge for 1 month
Recycling 41 plastic bottles saves enough energy to run a fridge for 1 hour or a computer for 17 hours
Nearly 50% of all the plastic milk bottles produced in Australia are recycled
It takes 125 recycled plastic milk bottles to manufacture a 140 litre wheelie bin from recycled plastic
Plastics degrade each time they are recycled as the polymer chains break down, limiting the number of times they can be recycled. Polyethylene teraphthalate (PET) degrades after about 5 melting cycles
Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy require to manufacture plastic from virgin materials
Milk bottles (made from HDPE) are one of the main plastics collected at kerbside and are the most sought after waste in the plastics recycling chain.
Australians consume approximately 6.9 billion plastic bags, or 36,850 tonnes of plastic each year - this equates to just under one bag per person per day
About 53% of plastic bags are from supermarkets, while 47% come from smaller retail outlets
It takes 5 PET bottles to make 1 square foot of polyester carpet
It takes 2 plastic soft drink bottles to make enough polyester fibre for a baseball cap

Per person, Australians use more than their average body weight (90 kg) of packaging each year and only 20% then gets recycled
More than 500,000 vehicles enter the waste stream each year
Approximately 18 million used passenger tyres weighing 170,000 tonnes are disposed of around Australia each year, with 57% disposed of in landfill
It is estimated that to incinerate 10,000 tonnes of waste creates one job, to landfill 10,000 tonnes of waste creates 6 jobs, and to recycle 10,000 tonnes of waste creates 36 jobs

Australians purchase approximately 4 million toner cartridges and 12 million ink cartridges each year - laid end-to-end this would stretch from Sydney to Hobart
Every year approximately 3 million toner cartridges end up in landfill in Australia
It is estimated a laser cartridge will take up to 450 years to decompose in landfill

65% of Australian freight is transported by road
The NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure estimates that 33% of all car trips are less than 3 km, and that 55% are less than 5 km
75% of Australians use a car to get to work, 12% use public transport and 5% walk or cycle

Energy (mainly electricity generation accounts for 50% of Australia's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, transport accounts for 14%, agriculture accounts for 16% and waste accounts for 3%
Almost half a kilogram of black coal is burned to supply 1 kWh of electricity - enough to run a single bar radiator for one hour, a 100 watt light globe for 10 hours, or an energy-efficient compact fluorescent light globe for 50 hours
Over its life, a typical compact fluorescent bulb saves around a third of a tonne of greenhouse gas and $45 in electricity costs
Every 15 litres of hot water used from an electric water heater generates about 1 kg of greenhouse gas
Water heating accounts for 23% of a households GHG emissions, while heating and cooling account for 20%
Over a year, some microwave ovens generate more greenhouse gas running the digital clock than cooking food