Recycling Quick Facts
Recyclables
Glass
Glass is completely recyclable and can be recycled a million times over to produce the same high
quality bottles and jars.
Recycling 1 tonne of glass saves 1.1 tonnes of raw materials (sand, limestone, soda ash), and energy
use is cut by 30 per cent. Crushed glass (or cullet) melts at a lower temperature than the raw materials,
which saves energy.
A glass bottle can take anywhere between 4000 and 1 million years to break down in landfill. Make
sure yours end up in the recycling bin on bin night.
Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for four hours, or a
fluorescent bulb for 20 hours.
Plastic
It takes 125 recycled plastic milk bottles to manufacture a 140-litre wheelie bin from recycled plastic.
Plastic bottles and containers can be recycled to become wheelie bins, fleece jackets, outdoor chairs
and benches.
The energy saved by recycling one plastic drink bottle would power a computer for
25 minutes.
Steel
Every year in Australia 17.5 million steel cans are recycled – enough steel to build 900 new cars.
Aluminium
It only takes 60 days for an aluminium can to be recycled, repackaged and put back on our
supermarket shelves.
Recycling an aluminium can requires less than 5 per cent of the energy that would be used to create a
similar can out of bauxite ore.
General
Kerbside recycling in Victoria saves enough water to fill about 4,500 Olympic sized swimming pools
every year.
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