News

The amount of paper and glass packaging being recycled by Australians has been seriously overestimated, according to an audit of a national recycling report leaked to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The draft audit shows figures recorded from packaging company Visy Industries included glass recycled from New Zealand, which increased the Australian figures by almost 70,000 tonnes.

The report also found that figures from Amcor confused newspaper and office paper recycling with cardboard and carton packaging, boosting the number by almost 300,000 tonnes.

Russell Peel, a spokesman for the National Packaging Covenant Council, said: "The covenant and the council have already agreed to amend the data. I don't believe the alterations are serious, or undermine the improving recycling performance."

The official report for 2006 put the national recycling rate at 56%, but the new adjusted figures put the rate at 48%, with the qualification that confidence even in this figure is low.

A source connected to the council told The Sydney Morning Herald: "The system is not working. The ministers have to face reality. The 65% recycling target by 2010 won't be reached. I think they have been negligent in not properly checking the figures because they were happy with the nice figures."

The most successful recycling effort has been for aluminium cans, because they are seen as more valuable to the companies. Glass recycling is facing mounting problems because of breakages in the recycling process and because many beverages are consumed away from home.