Table of contentsAustralia's waste and recycling crisisStatistics on Australians' recycling habitsComplexities of recycling in AustraliaImported products and recycling codesAustralian label program recyclingCircular waste economyBuying behavior of Australian consumersConclusion: Service design challengeReference ListThe television series "War On Waste", broadcast by ABC in May 2017, attracted considerable attention to the amount of waste produced by Australians. The annual amount of kerbside waste created by each Australian is 647kg per year. “The War on Waste: The Survey” found that while most Australians view waste as a problem, this is not being translated into action. There is a gap between understanding and action. According to the survey results, 86% of respondents believe that as a nation we should reduce our waste, but only 50% of respondents attempt to reduce their household waste. Among those who produced less waste in their household, they also talked about reducing the use of plastic bags and packaging and being selective in their purchases. Recycling waste is the best way to improve our environment. So in this essay we will find out why Australians understand that waste is a problem but fail to act? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get an original essay Additionally, this research aims to examine the challenges Australians face in increasing their household recycling, exploring the recycling habits of Australians and to investigate the adoption of recycling. information and labels on packaging, and whether the recyclable content of product packaging would influence Australians' purchasing choices, thereby reducing waste. Australia's waste and recycling crisis The Australian Department of Environment and Energy commissioned Blue Environment Pty Ltd to prepare a national waste report and this report was released in November 2018. The report reveals that the Australia generated approximately 67 million tonnes (Mt) of waste in 2016–17, of which approximately 13.8 Mt was kerbside and public place waste collected by local councils. Australia's waste generation has increased by 3.9Mt (6%) over the past decade and household waste has increased by 1.5Mt, the report said. The Australian Capital Territory saw the largest increase, estimated at 941,000 tonnes (34%), while New South Wales generated the largest total amount of waste compared to other states and territories. Local governments collected a total of about 9.7 million tons of waste into trash cans and half of the trash contents were sent to landfills. Recycling is vital as it helps reduce waste and pollution caused by waste generation. Pollution not only harms our environment, it can also cause the widespread spread of disease and habitat destruction due to the depletion of natural resources. Waste recycling is part of the waste hierarchy and, in typical state and territory policy frameworks, this starts with avoiding and reducing waste, reusing and recycling waste respectively. Since War On Waste first aired, Australians have become curious about how waste is processed. Local councils reported that a large number of public inquiries received concerned what happened to materialsrecyclable at the curb (Planet Ark 2018). This shows that Australians have started to learn and educate themselves about the recycling process. The number of people who purchased coffee in BYO reusable coffee cups increased from 37% to 42% after War On Waste aired. This data shows that Australians are ready to act when they find out what can and cannot be recycled. This suggests that Australians are committed to reducing and recycling waste. Australians also reduce waste by reusing plastic bags, reducing food waste by eating leftovers or shopping selectively, and donating and purchasing clothing to charity. Australia's recycling industry is facing a crisis. In January 2018, China introduced the National Sword Policy to reduce acceptable contamination of recyclables shipped from around the world from 5-10% to 0.5%. This has forced Australia to rethink its reliance on exporting plastics, paper and cardboard to China for recycling. China's National Sword policy means 526 tonnes of kerbside recyclables in Australia, which comprises 49% paper and cardboard; 42% of plastics and 1% of metals will not be shipped abroad for processing. Indonesia returned Australian waste paper in July this year because it was contaminated with dirty diapers and electronics. Australia's recycling infrastructure needs major improvement and investment before it can process all of the country's recyclables. Brooke Donnelly, of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organization, said "there was a lack of transparency around information about where waste was produced and where it ended up, making it difficult to invest in infrastructure recycling”. introduced to Australia in the 1980s. Australians are no strangers to the concept of recycling as the recycling rate has doubled in 1993 since curbside collection was launched. 90% of Australians believe recycling is the right thing to do and only 1% of households say they do not engage in any form of recycling. Australians are no strangers to curbside recycling. However, they unknowingly contaminate recycling, not because of lack of care, but rather because of a misunderstanding of what can be recycled. A 2016 study found that 57% of "committed" recyclers wrongly recycled old drinking glasses and more than 6 in 10 people believe Pringles tubes are recyclable. Around 58% of plastic packaging and 23% of glass packaging was found in the wrong bin, meaning it will end up in landfills. Why aren't Australians doing the right thing? With 10% of the Australian population not actively recycling, that's 2.4 million people who are not on board. Although 90% of Australians believe recycling is the right thing to do, a recent study, Don't Waste Your Waste, found that 94% of Australians make recycling mistakes. The study found that while many Australians are keen to recycle, 94 per cent still put non-recyclable items in their recycling bin, highlighting that Australians are confused and that confusion is stopping us from having good recycling practices. Why is recycling confusing? Recycling is a system. Recyclable waste is sent to collection bins and processed at waste management facilities into a reusable, marketable product. The process seems simple. But the systemcurrent is not automatic. It depends on Australians putting their waste in the right bins. Local council waste facilities have all unanimously said the most common mistake Australians make is placing their recyclables in plastic bags before putting them in the kerbside bin. These plastic bags contaminate recyclable loads and end up in landfills. Complexities of Recycling in Australia Why are Australians confused about recycling? We know that common recyclable items are aluminum and steel cans, cardboard, glass, paper and plastic bottles. But the recycling system is made complex due to the different capacities of the machines used in municipal waste management facilities. For example, disposable coffee cups can be recycled in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but not in New South Wales (NSW). Although disposable coffee cups are made of paper, it is natural to think that they can be recycled, but the cups are lined with a layer of waterproof plastic material. This means that cups cannot be recycled in most cities and can actually contaminate the load of recyclables if they end up in recycling bins, meaning the load ends up in landfills. Additionally, a factor that complicates recycling is packaging produced with mixed materials, such as coffee packaging for your coffee grounds and beans cannot be recycled because they are made from a composite material that cannot be separated by any machine. Often, the size of recyclables also makes the items difficult to recycle. Items such as plastic lids and yogurt containers. Their small size is difficult to pick up by sorting machines at waste management facilities and ends up in landfills. How do Australians know what materials were used in the products they bought? Most Australians will look for the recycling symbol on the packaging to find out how to dispose of the packaging responsibly. But mistakes can happen, particularly the varying capacities of waste management facilities can be a factor in Australians' recycling mistakes. For example, it is common knowledge that coffee cups can be recycled in the ACT, but when Canberrans visit Sydney in New South Wales and they automatically put their takeaway coffee cups into the recycling bins of Sydney, this unintentionally contaminates the recyclable load. The real problem is the lack of correct packaging disposal information being provided to Australians at the right time based on where they access the information. Although recycling symbols are printed on almost every product you can buy in stores these days, the symbol does not tell you whether your local recycling facility can recycle that packaging. Imported Products and Recycling Codes The total value of Australia's global imports was US$227.3. billion in 2018. This translates to an estimated annual demand of $9,700 worth of products from every Australian. A significant portion of the products sold on supermarket shelves today are imported and among those products that can be recycled carry recycling symbols with codes to identify the material from which they are made in order to facilitate recycling. These codes are recycling nightmares. The purpose of these recycling codes is to inform consumers of which materialspackaging is made of, but not in the way it can be recycled. Most consumers only check to see if the recycling symbol is on the packaging. These recycling codes are virtually useless because consumers will not fully understand what they mean until they research the meaning of each of these codes and then check with local councils whether the particular material can be recycled in local recycling facilities. States and territories have different recycling capacities and these capacities may differ between local councils as there is no standard waste recycling practice in Australia. This creates inconsistent recycling information which is confusing for consumers.Australasian Recycling Label ProgramIn 2018, former Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price launched a new labeling system, the Recycling Label. Recycling Australasian, aiming to tackle the recycling system confusing for consumers. The ARL is an evidence-based system that provides easy-to-follow instructions on how to properly dispose of each component of packaging and eliminates guesswork for consumers. The ARL system is developed by Planet Ark, PREP Design and the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation. The packaging components are divided into four elements: the box, the tray, the lid and the wrapper. Each of these components is associated with a “recyclable” (recycling symbol), “conditionally recyclable” (variant of the recycling symbol) or “non-recyclable” (trash symbol). “Conditionally recyclable” comes with additional instructions such as “Check locally” or “Deposit in store” indicating that consumers should follow these instructions to recycle the component. For example, supermarket frozen meals have a recyclable cardboard collar (box), a recyclable food tray (tray), but the plastic sheet (packaging) on ​​top is not recyclable. Instructions and symbols are interchangeable, for example, the plastic packaging of a Kit-Kat chocolate bar is recyclable by placing it in the REDCycle bin in participating stores. To represent this information, the “conditionally recyclable” symbol is printed on the packaging with the instruction “Deposit in store”. The ARL program is not a mandatory program for manufacturers, meaning some products on supermarket shelves still use the simple recycling symbol and there is still confusion among consumers. However, 200 companies have joined the program since its launch a year ago. This voluntary ARL program depends on brands committing to improving their corporate social responsibility practices and taking the initiative to join the program. For example, Nestlé Australia is one of Australia's favorite brands, producing Australia's favorite lollipops. In 2018, Nestlé Australia rolled out its new packaging featuring the ARL symbol. However, there is no available data to support whether the ARL program has helped consumers increase their recycling behavior. The next phase of the ARL is still to come in the near future. ARL is part of a wider program to meet the 2025 national packaging targets agreed by the former environment minister. One of four key targets is for all Australian packaging to be 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Circular waste economy The definition of sustainability is now evolving to encompass the entire product life cycle, from raw material supplyuntil the packaging is disposed of or reused. It is also the daily bread of the circular waste economy. A circular waste economy involves using waste as a (sustainable) resource. “A circular economy preserves the value of materials in the economy for as long as possible, thereby reducing unsustainable depletion of natural resources and impacts on the environment.” This circular economy begins with harvesting raw materials from natural resources. Manufacturers transformed raw materials into products. The products are then distributed to retailers and consumers purchase them from the retailers. Consumers dispose of products once they reach the end of their use. The products are then collected by recycling centers. Waste is sorted and distributed for recycling, reuse or disposal. Recyclable materials must be transformed into new products (recycled content), reused products must be distributed for resale, and disposed materials end up either as an energy source or as waste in landfills. Better recovery, recycling and reuse practices are essential to establishing an efficient and sustainable circular economy, in which materials stay in the productive economy longer, otherwise materials will end up as waste in landfills and more raw materials will be harvested from natural resources to become waste. unbearable exhaustion. Committing to using recycled content in packaging can boost the circular economy. The American technology giant, Apple, has good practices when it comes to the circular economy. Apple has established a trade-in program to collect old and end-of-life Apple products. The products are sent to Apple's Material Recovery Lab to be disassembled and the parts are recycled and reused. Apple says it uses 100% recycled aluminum to make its Macbook Air and Mac mini. This remarkable achievement is the result of the work of their engineers in creating a new alloy material that can be recycled time and time again without losing its quality. Apple is actively moving toward a circular material flow model and demonstrating how to recover and reuse materials that might have ended up in landfills. Buying behavior of Australian consumers According to a recent study by Salmat and ACRS, “ethical consumerism is on the rise”. The study also found that more than 30% of shoppers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products and not buy a product due to a disconnect between the brand's values ​​and ethics. Mintel recently reported finding that 32% of urban Australians prefer to buy products in eco-friendly packaging and one in three Australians say it is important for a brand to be sustainable. Shoppers aged 16 to 34 are most aware of environmentally friendly products when purchasing. Every Australian produces 1 tonne of waste per year and by making better purchasing choices they could reduce waste. This is the reason why consumers are handing over the responsibility of protecting the environment to brands, as brands have more power to reduce the impact on the environment. For example, Apple sold 1.3 billion Apple iPhones in 2018. Without its environmental policy and take-back program, these phones would undoubtedly end up in landfills. Brands have many responsibilities for better labeling on their packaging in the market, as consumers care enough about the environment to make a purchasing choice based on