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WASTE MANAGEMENT

• In the 12 months to March 2009, 98% of Australian households participated in some form of recycling and 86% of households reused waste.
• The items recycled and/or reused the most were paper/cardboard/newspapers (95%), followed by plastic bottles (94%), glass (93%) and plastic bags (90%).
• 91% of Australian households have their waste recycled by municipal kerbside recycling.
• The most common reason why households did not recycle was 'does not use any or enough materials to warrant recycling/not appropriate' (95%), while 14% of households reported they were 'not interested/too much effort'.
• Household batteries were the most common hazardous waste item disposed of, with 68% of households disposing of these during the 12 months to March 2009. Medicines, drugs or ointments were the second most common with just under one-third (32%) of households disposing of these items.
• The most common way of disposing hazardous waste was to have the waste collected as part of the usual (non-recycled) garbage from the house, accounting for 82% of households.
• The majority of households that did not use appropriate hazardous waste disposal services or facilities said this was because they did not generate enough materials to warrant use of these services or facilities (67%).