Australians litter 7.2 billion cigarette butts every year – discarded butts cause bush fires and can harm the animals who eat them. Annually, our plastic bags kill thousands of marine animals.

Throughout Australia, we also throw away nearly 1 billion aluminium cans – even though every single one of them could be recycled with huge benefit to the environment. Recycling just one aluminium can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours!

99% of Australians questioned by Roy Morgan Research said that recycling was important for the environment. 96% said their local recycling services were important to them personally.

Despite this enthusiasm, the same Roy Morgan survey also showed that 48% of Australians are unsure about what they can and cannot recycle in their local community.

As a result, huge numbers of aluminium cans, glass bottles, aerosol cans and milk cartons are not being recycled. Instead, many of these items are still being thrown away to end up as litter or landfill.

It’s for this reason that Planet Ark runs major education campaigns to minimise litter and to increase public recycling.