The recycling industry is in crisis,yet for most Australians its out of mind beyond the rattle of the recycling bin pickups each week. So what does this crisis really glance like? Guardian Australia visited three processing sites to find out what happens to bins once they leave the kerbThe recycling industry has been in crisis mode in Australia since January when China, which previously bought 50% of the recycling we collect, and implemented a ban that cut out 99% of what we used to sell.
Recycling companies had relied on this export revenue stream to stay afloat the amount of waste recycling we create exceeds the demand we contain to buy and use within Australia. Without an outlet,some companies began stockpiling recycling or sending it straight to landfill. Related: Is this the close of the yellow all-in-one recycling bin? More than 200 tonnes of material is tipped into the receivers corridor dailyGlass is processed back to sand, which is used in civil projects such as road construction and concreteThis facility receives more than 800 tonnes of waste a day, or around 12-15% of Sydney’s household mixed wasteThe workers hand sort the material to ensure that all products that don't belong in the compost are removedUp to 300 tonnes of decontaminated and shredded biological material is loaded into one of three 30m-long concrete tunnelsContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com