Recycling Facts and Figures

From 23 June 1997 to 22 June 2009 you have helped to recycle 266,994 tonnes of product. Of all these products:

  • Enough power has been saved to supply 205,880 homes with a year supply of electricity.
  • 735,769 cubic metres of landfill has been saved.
  • Enough water has been saved that would fill 1,769 Olympic size swimming pools.
  • Air pollution has been reduced equal to that of taking 31990 cars off our roads permanently.
  • 2240 trees saved from harvest by recycling paper product.
  • The total weight sold is equal to that of 148,330 family sized cars.

How residents of Cessnock, Lake Macquarie and Maitland helped our environment over the past 12 years.

  • Almost 736,000 cubic metres of landfill space avoided. If you were to build a wall in 1 metre cubes placing them end to end they form a solid wall from Newcastle to Brisbane QLD, this equals that of the landfill saved.
  • Enough trees have been saved that would provide enough oxygen for over 1,000,000 people.
  • 86,933,378 litres of oil saved by recycling plastics. Enough crude oil to make 43,460,000 litres of unleaded petrol.
Cessnock

At June 2009 185,161 services are performed each fortnight with an average 210.20 kilos per household per annum.

» Cessnock City Council Recycling Statistics 2008- 2009


Lake Macquarie

At June 2009 72,714 services are performed each fortnight with an average 225.28kilos per household per annum.

» Lake Macquarie City Council Recycling Statistics 2008-2009


Maitland

At June 2009 24,576 services are performed each fortnight with an average 215.10 kilos per household per annum.

» Maitland City Council Recycling Statistics 2008-2009


Interesting Facts

In 12 years of operation Hunter Resource Recovery has collected and processed the contents of over 33 million recycling bins with the help of our contractor, Solo Waste/ Solo Resource Recovery.

A recycling truck can hold the contents of 400 - 450 recycling bins.

In 10 years of operation, HRR has already collected and emptied approximately 27 million recycling bins.

Recycling really does make a difference. It saves valuable natural resources, saves landfill space and cuts down on energy use by reprocessing products instead of using virgin materials. For example:-

  • By adding used steel to new steel we can save up to 75% of the energy needed if the steel was made from raw materials. Air pollution is reduced by almost 90%, and water usage reduces by 40%.
  • Similarly with aluminium, 95% less energy is needed to make aluminium from used cans rather than from the raw material bauxite.
  • Recycling 1 tonne of glass saves 1.1 tonnes of raw materials (sand, limestone, soda ash), and energy use is cut by 25%.
  • If Australia stopped recycling today we would need to cut down over 18 million trees to meet our current demand for paper.
  • Each tonne of recycled paper saves 0.3m3 of landfill space, 30,000 litres of water and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity.
  • Paper recycling uses 99% less water than producing white paper from wood chips.
  • PET plastic (number 1) is recycled to make a product called "eco-fleece" that is used to stuff pillows, doonas, ski-suits and sleeping bags. It can also be woven for use in synthetic carpet.
  • Other plastics such as HDPE (number 2) and PP (number 5) are recycled into garden edging, sign posts, compost bins, speed humps, plant pots as well as many other products.
  • New plastic is made from non-renewable resources such as crude oil, gas and coal, and by recycling used plastics we can save both valuable resources and energy.