Recycling is important, but even when we get it right, many recyclable products aren't accepted by local councils in Australia. Across the country, people are trying to do better by bundling up tricky items and sending them off to be recycled. Experts say it’s not the perfect solution, but it’s still worth the effort.
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00:00In the basement of her Sydney apartment block, Victoria Collis is making recycling easier
00:09for her neighbours.
00:10Some of it goes to the weekly recycling pick-up that is organised through the council.
00:16She collects more than 50 types of items that can't go in your normal recycling bin, but
00:21can be reused or recycled with a little elbow grease.
00:25Toothbrushes and toothpaste, I drop them off at Bupa.
00:28Despite her dedication and careful research, it's not easy.
00:32Even when you think you've found something that works, and then you get there and find
00:35out, no, we don't participate in that programme anymore.
00:38This one is from Hampton in Victoria, Walpool and WA.
00:43Lottie DL also wants recycling to be easier.
00:46We've got those pesky pumps and the sprays.
00:49People all over Australia send their tricky items to her company in Sydney for recycling.
00:55You don't have to take your coffee cups somewhere, your blister packs somewhere else, your beauty
01:00products somewhere else.
01:01More than 7 million tonnes of packaging is either made or imported into Australia every
01:07year.
01:08The federal government set a target of recycling 70% of plastic packaging by 2025.
01:15In 2022-23, we only hit 19%, which is why some question whether small-scale recyclers
01:22make a difference.
01:24It's unlikely that we're probably going to be able to scale these grassroots initiatives
01:28to the level that we would need across Australia.
01:31But that doesn't mean suburban recyclers should be written off.
01:35They help people realise that certain things shouldn't go in the yellow bin and we need
01:38other solutions for them.
01:40The best solution would be to package things differently in the first place.
01:44We're not going to recycle our way out of this.
01:46And that puts the onus on business to find alternatives to plastic packaging.