Confuse Less, Recycle More

A million tonne commercial opportunity

Many Australians are confused about recycling. How much easier would it be to fix that with one set of rules that every person can easily follow at home and at work - a consistent approach, where every business and home has the same bins, and people know how to use them? That’s exactly where the UK is headed with its Simpler Recycling system, and new research shows that taking a similar approach and rolling out commingled recycling across Australia’s C&I sector could divert an extra 1.3 million tonnes from landfill.

Re.Group commissioned Rawtec, a respected independent consultant, to look at the opportunity of increasing recycling rates across Australia’s commercial and industrial (C&I) sector. The analysis shows an estimated 1.8 million tonnes of highly recyclable material including paper and cardboard, plastics, glass and metals are being directed to landfill each year by the C&I sector. Of this, 1.4 million tonnes can be re-directed to Commingled Material Recovery Facility (MRF) infrastructure throughout metropolitan and regional centres, where there is existing capacity to meet the increased demand.

“Every bit of rubbish that ends up in landfill is a missed opportunity,” proclaimed Tanya Plibersek, the then federal minister for the Environment and Water as she unveiled the ‘ReMade in Australia’ brand in April of 2025. Australia has prioritised advancing recycling capability, with the Commonwealth, States, Local Government and Industry all investing to increase quality and capacity. With a swag of new and upgraded facilities coming online, there is a ready opportunity to recover more of the recyclables currently sent to landfill, creating new jobs and supporting the circular economy.

The C&I analysis found that across Australia, Paper and Cardboard are the dominant untapped resource, representing nearly 70% of the recoverable tonnage. Through expanding access to C&I commingled recycling services, Australia would realise key benefits, including $362 million per year in avoided landfill costs, $241 million in retained commodity value, 339,000 kt in CO₂-e emissions savings, and 893 new jobs created across collection, processing and logistics.

Despite an increasing appetite in Australia to take action on waste reduction, all Australian states and territories are falling well short of 2030 C&I landfill diversion targets. The report has identified actual diversion rates varying from 34% to 72%, well short of diversion targets sitting at 80-90%. These findings punctuate a clear national gap: without legislative reform and expanded access to C&I commingled recycling, Australia will remain unable to meet its own circular economy commitments.

The Rawtec report highlights that a key to offering the most cost-efficient business recycling systems is route density for the collections leg; processing recyclables is already cheaper than dumping them into landfill, the problem is building the critical mass to improve efficiency of bin collections. If every business moved to a standard commingled recycling system, this barrier falls away, resulting in lower cost and better outcomes.

International experience shows the model make sense. The UK’s “Simpler Recycling” reforms, now mid-way through implementation, are already yielding notably increased materials recovery. “Simpler Recycling” demonstrates that improving access whilst aligning the way people recycle between home and the workplace improves participation, reduces contamination and provides a blueprint that can be implemented within Australia’s C&I sector.

With some jurisdictions facing looming landfill capacity constraints and already moving toward mandatory C&I collections of food and garden organics, there is a clear window of opportunity to drive the uptake of standard ‘yellow bin’ commingled recycling at the same time.

Re.Group Managing Director, David Singh said the findings highlight a clear pathway for Australia: “The evidence is overwhelming. We have the infrastructure, supply chains and environmental imperative to deliver impactful change, but we are missing a consistent national approach to C&I commingled recycling that mirrors the clarity and simplicity now being delivered across the UK.”

The report calls for staged policy reform, aligning Australia’s recycling systems between home, the workplace and the capability of modern Commingled MRF’s by:

• Introducing a requirement for separate C&I commingled collection services for businesses, with processing through commingled MRFs.
• Phasing implementation from large generators first, then expanding to all businesses over a defined timeframe.
• Aligning rollout with mandatory organics implementation to improve collection efficiency and enable consistent, integrated messaging.