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Facts & Tips
Facts
Fact: Australians create about 28 million tonnes of garbage every year. Just over one third of this material is recovered for recycling.
Fact: Australians are the second highest producers of waste, per person, in the world with each of us sending almost 690kgs of waste to landfill each year (The United States is the highest waste producer).
Fact: Australian households generate almost one-fifth of Australia’s greenhouse gases — more than 15 tonnes per household each year — through everyday activities such as transport, household energy use and the decay of household waste in landfills.
Fact: When paper is disposed of to landfill rather than recycled, it creates methane as it breaks down. Methane is a major greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming with a life span 21 times longer than carbon dioxide.
Fact: Enough sunlight falls on the earth’s surface every hour to meet world energy demand for an entire year.
Fact: The energy it would require to run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours is saved by recycling one glass bottle. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.
Fact: Manufacturing with recycled glass uses less energy because recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than virgin raw materials. Because the materials do not need to be heated as high, less energy is required in the manufacturing process.
Fact: Once an aluminium can is recycled, it's back on the grocery shelf as another aluminium can in 60 days.
Sustainability Tips
- Set your air conditioning to run 1ºC warmer in summer and 1ºC cooler in winter. You won't notice the difference, but will save money and reduce carbon emissions by 14%.
- Print double-sided automatically and use recycled paper. Only print what you need to save the trees and some money.
- Properly inflate your tyres to dramatically increase your fuel efficiency. Drive more efficiently and further increase your fuel efficiency by up to 30%.
- Eat one vegetarian meal each day. It's easy to go veggie for breakfast or lunch with easy veggie recipes. You'll feel healthier, save money, and you'll reduce your share of the 3rd largest source of carbon emissions in the world: the meat industry.
- Use water efficient appliances and fittings, such as 4-star (or more) showerheads and water pressure-limiting devices, and include rainwater tanks to supply water for use with gardens, toilets and laundry.
