Councils named as best 'impossible-to-recycle' recyclers

Three Sydney councils — Randwick, Sutherland Shire and North Sydney — have been named Australia’s top councils for recycling hard-to-recycle household waste, according to national collection data released by recycling and logistics platform ReSmart.

The rankings are based on the volume of difficult household waste collected directly from residents, including soft plastics, textiles, e-waste, batteries, blister packs, coffee pods, beauty packaging and polystyrene.

Randwick residents topped the country in recycling, with more than 177,000 x 30 L bags of hard-to-recycle waste recycled through ReSmart’s doorstep pickup service. This was followed by more than 101,000 bags recycled in the Sutherland Shire and 50,000 bags in North Sydney.

With Australia generating an estimated 75.6 million tonnes of waste in 2022–23 — equivalent to around 2.9 tonnes per person, according to the federal government’s National Waste Report — this achievement is set to significantly reduce hard-to-recycle waste going into landfill.

ReSmart founder and CEO Giorgio Baracchi said the results showed Australians are willing to recycle far more if the process is made simple.

“These are waste streams most people traditionally throw straight into landfill because recycling them properly is too difficult. Normally you’d have to drive to multiple locations across your city, batteries to Bunnings, e-waste to JB Hi Fi, soft plastics to the supermarket and coffee pods somewhere else entirely,” Baracchi said.

“But one of the biggest problems is polystyrene. There’s virtually nowhere the average Australian can easily take it to be recycled, so most people simply throw it in the bin and send it to landfill. We love collecting polystyrene because our recovery partner turns it into insulation products for the construction industry, which is exactly the kind of circular economy outcome Australia needs more of.”

ReSmart operates a national doorstep collection service allowing households and businesses to place hard-to-recycle materials into dedicated bags which are then collected and processed through its network of recycling hubs and recovery partners across Australia.

The company says approximately 98% of collected material is successfully recycled, reused or recovered, with only around 2% ending up in landfill.

According to ReSmart’s national collection data, soft plastics account for 61% of all collected material, followed by textiles at 20%, “misfit” waste streams at 12% and e-waste at 7%.

The “misfits” category includes some of the hardest household waste streams to recycle, including blister packs, oral care products, beauty packaging, household batteries, polystyrene and aluminium coffee pods.

“Randwick, Sutherland Shire and North Sydney were among the first areas to embrace this model and make it accessible to residents. But the important point is this is no longer just a Sydney service. ReSmart is now operating nationally across all major capital cities,” Baracchi said.

While some councils subsidise the service for residents, Australians can also independently access ReSmart through a low-cost, monthly subscription. Baracchi said convenience would ultimately determine whether Australians recycled more.

“The future of recycling depends on making it easier than throwing things away. If recycling remains inconvenient, most hard-to-recycle materials will continue ending up in landfill regardless of people’s intentions,” Baracchi said.

The platform is already used by more than 44,000 customers and major organisations including Canva, Westpac, Qantas, Lululemon and The Iconic, with ReSmart providing national collection and recovery solutions across both households and enterprise clients. The company has experienced rapid growth, with annual recurring revenue increasing by 44% year on year and business-to-business revenue growing by more than 100%.

Having already raised more than $5.5 million from investors, including global venture firm Antler, ReSmart is now undertaking an equity crowdfunding raise through the OnMarket platform as it expands its recycling infrastructure, technology platform and national footprint across Australia.

Baracchi said the business was scaling quickly because Australians were increasingly looking for practical environmental solutions that fit into modern life.

For more information on ReSmart’s recycling service, visit the website.

Image: Supplied