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Recycling crisis

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A collector returning cans and bottles for recycling in Sydney.

Those collectors rummaging through our bins? Our recycling system relies on them

The Return and Earn scheme has dramatically cut litter while boosting recycling, but are the environmental benefits coming at a social cost?

  • Cindy Yin and Caitlin Fitzsimmons

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New French laws have put ultra-fast fashion companies on notice. Should we follow suit?

In a world first, France has legislated to tax fast fashion brands, but Australia continues to lag behind other countries in addressing fashion waste. Why is this?

  • Lauren Ironmonger
James Dorney, chief executive of Tomra Cleanaway, which manages the NSW container return scheme, at a sorting plant at Eastern Creek.

Australian container return schemes are a booming good news story

Unlike efforts to recycle soft plastics, container deposit schemes have been a success across Australia, with billions of bottles recycled.

  • Nick O'Malley and Bianca Hall
Greater Sydney is on track to run out of landfill by 2030.

Thinking of returning an online purchase? It might end up in landfill

The amount of unsold goods being thrown out has surged since 2021, and a key reason is the growth in returns of online purchases.

  • Frances Howe
The James Brown campaign truck dumping corflutes at a Sydney tip in May 2025.

We can have democracy without the plastic waste

Corflutes are fully recyclable, but signs from the 2025 election are already winding up in landfill or as litter.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Planet Ark championed the Australasian Recycling Label.

Labor commits to national packaging rules as Planet Ark collapses

The environmental charity behind a number of high-profile recycling schemes went into voluntary administration this week.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
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Competition is increasing among landfill operators for soil.

Pay dirt: Landfills fight for lucrative soil contracts

Rising landfill levies and a slowdown in construction have sparked instability within Victoria’s waste industry as operators warn of aggressive tactics and the financial collapse of some recycling and reuse companies. 

  • Kieran Rooney
I am stuck in a vicious cycle of attempting to recycle, and no amount of colour-coded bins can save me.

Red, yellow or green? The stress of putting the wrong thing in the wrong bin

I am stuck in a vicious cycle of attempting to recycle, and no number of colour-coded bins can save me. 

  • Thomas Mitchell
The Plasrefine recycling facility was planned for construction next to a critical medical research mouse-breeding facility.

Fear of thousands of cannibal mice helped sink a huge NSW recycling plant

Australia’s largest recycling plant was set to be built next to a crucial medical facility – and the potential impacts were dire.

  • Angus Dalton
Michelle Gray with her son Harry with their FOGO bin in Rose Bay.

Despite ‘smell issues’, NSW plans to mandate household food scraps collection

Australia is unlikely to meet national goals like halving the amount of organic waste going to landfill by 2030. But efforts are stepping up.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/topic/recycling-crisis-1n4t