Fact: Australians create about 28 million tonnes of garbage every year. Just over one third of this material is recovered for recycling.

Sustainability Victoria - Information Sheets
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/598-information-sheets.asp
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Info_2_-_Waste_Facts.doc

Fact: Victoria's newspaper recycling rate is a record 77%! This means Victoria, along with NSW, is one of the best newspaper recyclers in the world.

Sustainability Victoria– Information Sheets
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/598-information-sheets.asp
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Info_5_-_Paper.doc

Fact: Australians are the second highest producers of waste, per person, in the world with each of us sending almost 690kgs of waste to landfill each year (the United States is the highest waste producer).

Clean Up Australia
http://www.cleanup.com.au/main.asp?RequestType=Doc&DocID=79&CatID=2

Fact: The amount of waste placed in landfill each year in Australia is enough to cover the state of Victoria.

Clean Up Australia
http://www.cleanup.com.au/main.asp?RequestType=Doc&DocID=79&CatID=2

Fact: When paper is disposed of to landfill rather than recycled, it creates methane as it breaks down. Methane is a major greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming with a life span 21 times longer than carbon dioxide.

VISY Recycling, Paper and Cardboard Facts
http://www.visy.com.au/divisions/category_page.aspx?did=1&sid=3&cid=89&scid=92

Fact: Recycling one tonne of glass saves about thirty four litres of fuel oil.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources – Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention
http://www.ohiodnr.com/recycling/awarenes s /facts/factsheets/glass.htm

Fact: Recycling paper not only reduces the amount of waste to landfill, it also contributes to sustainable resource usage. For each tonne of paper that is recycled,

	13 trees are saved;
	2.5 barrels of oil saved;
	4100 kWh of electricity saved;
	4 cubic metres of landfill saved;
	31, 780 litres of water are saved.

Sustainability Victoria– Information Sheets
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/598-information-sheets.asp
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Info_5_-_Paper.doc

See also: VISY Recycling Website, http://www.visyrecycling.com.au/s03_why/frame.asp

Fact: It is estimated that in 2006 there will be around 1.6 million computers disposed of in landfill, 1.8 million put in storage (in addition to the 5.3 million already gathering dust in garages and other storage areas) and 0.5 million recycled in Australia alone.

ABC Science – The Lab – E-Waste
http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/ewaste/default.htm

Fact: Recycling a glass jar saves enough energy to light a bulb for four hours.

ZeroWaste New Zealand Trust, Auckland NZ
http://www.zerowast e .co.nz/default,72.sm

Fact: Your old computer contains parts, such as circuit boards, RAM and a central processing unit (CPU), that can be reused, as well as metal, plastic and other materials that can be recycled

Australian Consumer Association – Choice – Where to recycle your computer (archived)
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103807&catId=100408&tid=100008&p=1

Fact: 2.2% of household garbage in Victoria was made up of glass that could have been recycled in 2002/03.

Sustainability Victoria – Information Sheets
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/598-information-sheets.asp
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Info_7_-_Glass.doc

Fact: Computer equipment collected for recycling are disassembled into their parts (plastic, precious metals, batteries, cathode ray tubes, printed circuit boards, insulated wiring) and sent off to various parts of Australia and the world for recovery and recycling.

Sustainability Victoria - Byteback
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1107-byteback.asp?intSiteID=1

Fact: Once an aluminum can is recycled, it's back on the grocery shelf as another aluminum can in 60 days.

WSN Environmental Solutions - Aluminium
http://www.wasteservice.nsw.gov.au/dir138/p u blish.nsf/Content/educations_facts_aluminium

Fact: In 2002, over 159,000 tonnes of plastic was sent for recycling in Australia , only 13.4% of the total plastic consumption for that year.

Sustainability Victoria – Information Sheets
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/598-information-sheets.asp
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Info_6_-_Plastic.doc

Fact: Each year, Australians use 6.9 billion plastic shopping bags. Tied together this amount of bags would stretch around the world 37 times!

Sustainability Victoria – Information Sheets
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/598-information-sheets.asp
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Info_6_-_Plastic.doc

Fact: Recycling aluminium saves a significant amount of energy. Producing 20 cans from recycled materials uses the same power as making one can from raw materials.

Waste Wise WA – Recycling – Aluminium: http://www.wastewise.wa.gov.au/p a ges/recycling_aluminium.asp

Fact: Aluminium cans have been recycled in Australia for many years, and we are 5th in the world, recycling 63% of our cans, nearly 2 billion cans a year!

WSN Environmental Solutions - Aluminium
http://www.wasteservice.nsw.gov.au/dir138/publi s h.nsf/Content/educations_facts_aluminium

Fact: Recycled aluminium cans can be processed into new cans or other aluminium products such as saucepans and other homeware.

ACT NOWaste – Aluminium Can Recycling
http://www.nowaste.act.gov.au/ed/aluminiumcanrecycling.html

Fact: Every year each Australian sends around 3.5 kilograms of steel cans and products to landfill - that's enough steel to make 40,000 fridges!

Cansmart – Steel Can Recycling Campaign
http://www.can s mart.org/

Fact: In Switzerland, 91% of manufactured glass is recovered for recycling. This is currently the world's best glass recycling practice

Visy – Visy Recycling
http://www.visy.com.au/divisions/category_page.aspx?did=1&sid=3&cid=89&scid=91

Fact: Manufacturing with recycled glass uses less energy because recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than virgin raw materials. Because the materials do not need to be heated as high, less energy is required in the manufacturing process.

Visy – Visy Recycling
http://www.visy.com.au/divisions/category_page.aspx?did=1&sid=3&cid=89&scid=91

Fact: Glass manufacturers today make glass bottles that are much lighter than bottles made in previous years. This process, called ‘light weighting', saves considerable amounts of energy and raw materials.

ACI Glass Packaging state that a ‘stubby' beer bottle made in 1986 weighed 260 g, but by 1997, the same size ‘stubby' weighed only 180g, which is a reduction of 31%.

Sustainability Victoria – Information Sheets
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/598-information-sheets.asp
http://www.ecorecycle.sustainability.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Info_7_-_Glass.doc