National Recycling Week

Back since recycling bins were just a small black tub, Planet Ark has been helping Australians recycle right. National Recycling Week (NRW) is one of Planet Ark’s flagship campaigns and every year aims to educate and empower people to do the right thing when they’re at the bin.

Since the campaign was established in 1996, we have held it every year during the second week of November. This year, NRW will be from 11 - 17 November, 2024.

Our education also focuses on the waste hierarchy – reduce, reuse, recycle - to minimise strain on finite resources.

We connect with individuals, community groups, schools, businesses and government to provide them with the all the tools they need to help educate their network and run their own National Recycling Week events.

Recycling can be confusing, especially since China’s effective ban on recycling imports and media coverage about the “waste crisis”. To ensure recycling is sustainable in Australia, Planet Ark aims to increase trust in recycling and help Australians recycle correctly. 

Engaging Australians on the importance of closing the recycling loop by buying products made with recycled content is also key to creating a sustainable future. We need to rethink our waste and see it as a resource that can be turned into new products. By keeping these materials in circulation for as long as possible, this benefits the environment by reducing the extraction of virgin materials for new products, as well as the water and energy it takes to make them.