The Sydney Morning Herald logo

Recycling crisis

Advertisement
A trolley full of products covered in unnecessary plastic.

How we got conned into recycling by Big Plastic

Rinsing that yoghurt tub was never going to solve the problem. We’ve all been fooled.

  • Jonathan Baker

Latest

The AWU says workers at Containers for Change depots are facing dangerous and low paid conditions.

‘Unsafe’ conditions, low pay: The problem with WA’s Containers for Change

In comments likely to anger his government colleagues, AWU WA Branch Secretary Brad Gandy said the 850 container collection depot workers faced worse conditions and lesser pay than Coles or Woolworths workers.

  • Hamish Hastie

The lifecycle of plastics, a modern wonder that is choking the planet

Recycling is billed as the holy grail of a circular economy, but experts agree: we can’t recycle our way out of the plastics crisis we’re creating.

  • Bianca Hall and Illustrations by Matt Willis
Beer bottles are lighter than they were 20 years ago because manufacturers are using less material.

Recyclers say a 10¢ container refund has no ‘pulling power’. They want it doubled

The beverage industry argues the push is out of touch on the cost of living. Yet everyone agrees that a nationally consistent approach is needed.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Recycling story

I’m in the self-care aisle at Woolies, but I’m not here to buy shampoo. I’m on a covert mission

This masthead sent a packaging expert images of products with recycling symbols and labels. None were recyclable in Australia.

  • Hannah Kennelly
A collector returning cans and bottles for recycling in Sydney.

Those collectors rummaging through our bins? Our recycling system relies on them

The Return and Earn scheme has dramatically cut litter while boosting recycling, but are the environmental benefits coming at a social cost?

  • Cindy Yin and Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Advertisement

New French laws have put ultra-fast fashion companies on notice. Should we follow suit?

In a world first, France has legislated to tax fast fashion brands, but Australia continues to lag behind other countries in addressing fashion waste. Why is this?

  • Lauren Ironmonger
James Dorney, chief executive of Tomra Cleanaway, which manages the NSW container return scheme, at a sorting plant at Eastern Creek.

Australian container return schemes are a booming good news story

Unlike efforts to recycle soft plastics, container deposit schemes have been a success across Australia, with billions of bottles recycled.

  • Nick O'Malley and Bianca Hall
Greater Sydney is on track to run out of landfill by 2030.

Thinking of returning an online purchase? It might end up in landfill

The amount of unsold goods being thrown out has surged since 2021, and a key reason is the growth in returns of online purchases.

  • Frances Howe
The James Brown campaign truck dumping corflutes at a Sydney tip in May 2025.

We can have democracy without the plastic waste

Corflutes are fully recyclable, but signs from the 2025 election are already winding up in landfill or as litter.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons