Last week, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) released the results of their 2015-2016 National Recycling and Recovery Survey. The survey covered glass containers, steel cans + paper and aluminium packaging. I've summed up some key findings for you below, and you can download a copy here.
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| Graph of calculated recycling rates by grade, APCO, 2017 |
- Australia's recycling rate for 2015-16 was 65.3%, up 2% on the previous year but down 2% on 2010-11.
- Total consumption of these products rose 1.5% on 2014-15
- The recycling rate was highest for paperboard
- Since 2010-11, our consumption of glass has been rising annually at an average of 3.5%
- The recycing rate for non-beverage aluminium packaging (like deodorant cans) was at 44% in 2015-16, down from 50% in the previous year
