Waste and Recycling Facts
General waste facts
Brisbane City Council collects approximately 115,000 bins every working day, which amounts to around 30 million collections in a year.
· On average every one of the 1,100,000 people in the Brisbane Council region generates around 460 kilograms (kg) of household waste a year. That equates to about 34 wheelie bins of waste per person (including recyclables and waste delivered to transfer stations, general waste and green waste as based on 2013-14 figures).
· More than 20% of Brisbane’s household waste is food waste. This equates to one out of every five bags of groceries being tossed in the bin.
· From 1997 to 2012 the population rose by 25% and waste generation in Australia increased by 145% to more than 53.7 million tonnes of waste a year. 1
· About 22 million tonnes of this waste ended up in landfill. That's the equivalent weight of 416 Sydney Harbour Bridges being buried.2
· Australians produce approximately 2.1kg of waste a day which makes us the second highest waste producers in the world. Queenslanders produce approximately 2.3 kg of waste a day.3
· The average Australian family of four generates enough waste in one year to fill a three bedroom house from the floor to the ceiling.4
· Every year, each Australian throws away on average:
o 330 kilograms paper
o 552 aluminium cans
o 118 kilograms plastic
o 74 kilograms metals
o 414 kilograms food
o 206 glass bottles/jars 5
· Nearly half of all waste (47%) from Australian households is organic waste and
almost a quarter (23%) is paper and cardboard waste. 6
· Australia wide approximately 60% of waste is recycled and 40% is landfilled. In Switzerland, approximately only 7% of waste is buried in landfill.7
· Waste does not just come from homes. It also comes from industry, construction, demolition, agriculture and shops.
· The biggest garbage dump in the world is not on land, but out at sea. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch lies in the Pacific Ocean where rotating ocean currents and wind form a vortex or gyre where rubbish, particularly micro plastics, accumulate. It is estimated to be about the size of Texas and to contain approximately 11 million tonnes of floating plastic.
Recycling facts
· Approximately 91,000 tonnes of recyclables are collected every year from Brisbane households to be recycled into new paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass products saving valuable resources, energy and landfill space. That’s equivalent to about 183 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
· Brisbane residents recycle in their household recycling bin approximately:
o 49,494 tonnes of cardboard and paper
o 6727 tonnes of plastic
o 29,312 tonnes of glass
o 529 tonnes of aluminium
o 1442 tonnes of steel. 8
· Recycling helps to reduce the use of water, energy, landfill space and greenhouse gases. Each year, Brisbane residents save approximately:
o 58,375 tonnes of solid waste from going to landfill
o 50,975 tonnes of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of removing 12,254 cars from the road
o 1,322,341 Gigajoule of energy, which is equivalent of the annual electricity requirements of 61,191 households
o 1,717,628 kL of water, which is equivalent to 661 Olympic size swimming pools of water. 9
· 4844 tonnes of e-waste have been collected for recycling in Brisbane over the last six years.
· Over a third of Australians (35%) always compost or recycle garden waste and 23% always compost or recycle kitchen or food waste.10
· Over the period 2006/07 to 2010/11, the resource recovery rate in Australia increased nine per cent - from 51 per cent to 60 per cent.11
· Almost 97% of households in Australia recycle items12
1, 10, 12Australian Bureau of Statistics, Waste account Australia, 2013
2 Planet Ark, Second Nature: Recycling in Australia, 2012
3 Australian Government, Waste and recycling in Australia, 2011
4, 5 www.transpacific.com.au
6, 7 Australian Government, Waste and recycling in Australia, 2011
8 ,9 Visy Brisbane City Council recycling report 2013-2014
11 Australian Government, National Waste Reporting, 2013
Brisbane City Council
Rethink Your Rubbish Fact Sheet: Waste and Recycling Facts