Recycling - PNEB - Newspaper and Magazine Recycling

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Recycling Success in Australia

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Recycling Success in Australia

At the end of 1989 the estimated Australian collection rate for old newspapers was 28%. By the end of 2003, the rate was 73.5%.

Research indicates that a further 6.9% is unrecoverable (being reused in people’s homes for lighting fires, garden composting, painting drop sheets and other uses) which means that we are actually recovering over 80% of the available paper.

This is a world-class performance, particularly when you take into account the widespread population of the country and the enormous distances that old newspapers must often be transported.

The biggest cost in any recycling is the transport which means that it is not viable to recover old newspapers and magazines from remote regions in Australia, but check at www.recyclingnearyou.com.au or contact your local council to see if recycling is available in your area.

Recovered Newspapers in Australia

Here’s what happened to the 528,393 tonnes of old newspapers that were recovered for recycling in 2003:

The cardboard industry in Australia continues to consume most of the kerbside collections with 231,435 tonnes, up by 19.6 per cent on the 193,487 tonnes in 2002.
Exports, mainly to South-east Asia where it goes into new newsprint, fell from 164,073 tonnes in 2002, to 142,368, with half the difference going to Australian cardboard.
New newsprint produced by Norske Skog at its Albury (NSW) and Boyer (Tasmania) mills used 105,294 tonnes of old news print from kerbside collections and publishers’ printing waste compared to 97,934 tonnes in 2002.
Paper products including kitty litter, house insulation, and egg cartons used up the 41,409 tonnes compared to 41,137 tonnes in 2002, which included tonnages to the newly emerging Alternative Waste Technologies that year.
Alternative Waste Technologies. As this industry is becoming a significant player in the market place we have broken out a figure of 7887 tonnes for 2003.