National Recycling Week is one of Planet Ark’s flagship campaigns, held each year during the second week of November. Since its launch in 1996, the initiative has aimed to inspire individuals, businesses, and communities to take meaningful action toward reducing waste, reusing, and recycling correctly.
Over the years, Australia’s recycling efforts have made remarkable progress. What began with only 7% of materials recycled, around 1.5 million tonnes, has now grown to more than 60%, exceeding 43 million tonnes. This transformation demonstrates how education, awareness, and improved recycling systems can make a real difference.
Recycling plays a vital role in protecting our planet. By keeping valuable materials such as paper, glass, metals, and plastics out of landfill, we conserve natural resources and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Every item we recycle helps cut down on pollution and the energy required to produce new products from raw materials.
This National Recycling Week, Planet Ark is encouraging everyone to rethink their waste habits, from recycling household items properly to choosing reusable alternatives and reducing overall consumption. Small steps, such as sorting recyclables correctly or buying products made from recycled materials, can create a big collective impact.
Recycling at Home
Households generate significant waste daily, and effective recycling helps reduce landfill waste. Here are some practical ways to recycle at home:
- Sort waste properly – Understanding your local council regulations is key to proper recycling and preventing contamination. Check your local council's guidelines.
- Reuse and repurpose – Before discarding items, find creative ways to give them a second life. Glass jars, plastic containers, and old clothes can often be repurposed for storage, crafts, or household use.
- Start a compost bin – Set up a compost bin for food scraps and garden waste to reduce organic waste. Learn more about how to get started.
- Dispose of e-waste properly – Take electronic waste, such as old phones, televisions and batteries, to designated drop-off locations to ensure safe recycling. Find your nearest e-waste collection point.
- Container deposit schemes – From 2025, Australia will be the first continent to be fully covered by container deposit schemes. Under these programs you can return a range of aluminium, glass, and plastic drink containers to designated locations for a 10cent refund per eligible item. Learn more about these schemes in each state.
Kerbside recycling
As mentioned above, recycling rules vary by council, but in general the following materials can go into kerbside recycling bins for collection:
- Paper and cardboard – Newspapers, magazines, office paper, cereal boxes, and flattened cardboard boxes.
- Glass – Bottles and jars (rinsed). Do not include broken glass, ceramics, or Pyrex (cookware).
- Plastics – Hard plastics such as soft drink bottles, milk containers and shampoo bottles.
- Metal – Aluminium cans, steel cans and foil trays.
- Cartons – Milk and juice cartons.
Items to avoid placing in kerbside recycling bins:
- Plastic bags
- Broken glassware or mirrors or glass from a photo frame
- Batteries – Dispose of them at e-waste collection points.
- Clothing and other textiles
- Food containers with leftover food
- Building materials, such as timber, bricks and other construction debris.
- Paper towels
Understanding your bin system:
Yellow-lid bins – Used for recyclable materials.
Red lid bens (landfill) - Intended for general waste that cannot be recycled.
Green lid bins - Designed for garden waste, such as leaves, grass clippings, small branches, plants, flowers, weeds, and twigs.
Some councils may allow additional organic materials in green bins, such as food scraps (fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, bread, pasta, eggshells) and compostable packaging. Check your local council’s website for specific bin guidelines.
Recycling labels
It is important to check and understand product labels and follow recycling instructions to ensure proper disposal and avoid contamination.
Most products and packaging made from plastic have a small triangle on them with a number inside. This is a plastic identification code, used to identify the type of plastic the product is made from. Unfortunately, the triangle is often confused with the global symbol for recycling, the Mobius Loop, but it is not an indication the item can be recycled.
The Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) is a labelling system for Australia and New Zealand, that provides consumers with easy-to-understand recycling information on packaging. It removes confusion, saves time and reduces contamination in the recycling stream by providing clear, detailed instructions on how to dispose of all parts of the packaging.
Preventing recycling contamination
Contamination in recycling bins is a significant issue that can cause entire batches of recyclables to be sent to landfill. When food waste, liquids, or non-recyclable items are mixed in, they can ruin otherwise recyclable materials. To avoid this:
- Ensure recyclables are clean and dry before disposal.
- Keep soft plastics, such as plastic bags and wrappers, out of standard recycling bins.
- Do not place hazardous items, such as batteries or electronic waste, in recycling bins, use designated collection points instead.
- Follow signage and guidelines on bins to ensure proper waste separation.
By keeping recycling streams clean, we improve efficiency, lower costs, and ensure materials can be effectively repurposed.
Recycling in your workplace
Workplaces generate a substantial amount of recyclable waste, including paper, plastic, and electronics. Here are some steps to enhance recycling in your workplace:
- Recycling bins – Use any designated recycling bins throughout your workplace to ensure proper waste disposal and support sustainability efforts.
- Go paperless – Consider the need to print. Reduce paper waste by digitising documents and using electronic communication where possible.
- Recycle office supplies and equipment – Check if your workplace has collection points for used printer cartridges, batteries, and outdated electronics. Speak to your colleagues about donating or responsibly recycling old office furniture and IT equipment. Find e-waste collection points near you.
- Embrace reusable items – Utilise reusable coffee cups, water bottles, lunch containers, plates and cutlery instead of disposables alternatives.
Mutually valuable banking for people and planet
As a member focused, values-driven organisation, acting responsibly and ethically is at the heart of our operations. We are committed to the ongoing promotion and creation of mutual value and strive to make a positive impact for our members and the communities we are part of. It is this sentiment that underpins our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy - Mutually valuable banking for people and planet.
We are always looking for ways to minimise the impact our business operations have on the environment. Our head office features a comprehensive four-bin recycling system for dry-waste, organics, recyclables, and paper - to help prevent contamination, reduce waste and minimise landfill.
We also recently refurbished our head office to improve efficiency and wellbeing. As part of our commitment to waste reduction, we repurposed much of our existing furniture. Remaining items were made available to staff or donated to Barnardos Australia’s child and family centres and Planet Ark’s City Recycling program. Newly installed water systems, upgraded lighting and presentation technology were selected to reduce resource consumption and improve energy efficiency.
We have also undertaken a Greenhouse Gas Assessment to better understand our emissions and identify reduction opportunities, completing our submission to Climate Active, an Australian Government program driving voluntary climate action.
Through our ESG Strategy, we have delivered a number of impact initiatives including recycled PVC cards and environmentally conscious collateral, accessible and inclusive service enhancements, our Essential Worker Home Loan, Green Car Loan, Green Upgrades Loan, Worker Support Benefits and our Responsible Banking Policy.
Join us in making a difference
This National Recycling Week, let's reflect on our recycling habits and how we can contribute to a cleaner, healthier environment. Simple actions, like sorting waste properly, using recycled products, and supporting businesses that prioritise sustainability, can make a significant difference.
Together, we can make recycling second nature and help build a more sustainable Australia.
