ThinkNewsBrands has today shared the findings of a report on newsprint recycling, which shows 61.8% of newsprint produced in Australia is recycled.
The 2021-2022 Newsprint Recovery & Recycling report, prepared by IndustryEdge, highlights the sustained and ongoing efforts of Australian publishers to minimise their impact on the environment.
In 2021-2022, the recycling rate only fell marginally, by 3.8 percentage points, compared to the previous report conducted in 2020. The report found the decline in newsprint consumption was below expectations, having fallen by only 7.8% on an annualised basis, well below the level of previous years which averaged a 13.2% decline.
The report follows a partnership forged by ThinkNewsBrands with REDcycle, a recovery initiative for post-consumer soft plastic that sees the plastic wrap from magazines and newspaper turned into products such as furniture or parks and schools.
As part of the partnership, ThinkNewsBrands members dedicated $500,000 worth of advertising inventory to a national advertising campaign designed to educate the Australian public about the benefits of recycling.
Tony Wilkins, ThinkNewsBrands executive director of environment, said: “Given the overall difficulties in the recycling market, this is a great result and positions Australia as a leader in the efforts to recycle newsprint.”
“Australia retains its position among the world leaders in newspaper recycling and we expect this to continue, in line with the sustainability commitments of our industry. More on that soon.”
The focused effort on newsprint recycling in Australia began in 1990 with the implementation of the first product stewardship plan, the National Environment Sustainability Agreement for newspapers and magazines (NESA). The NESA is supported by Nine, News Corp Australia, Seven West Media and Are Media.
View the full report here
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