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  • I don't know about you

  • but I'm often kept up at night wondering...

  • ..after I put my recycling in the yellow bin,

  • where are they taking it?

  • Where?

  • Have you been up all night

  • stressing out about the recycling again?

  • Why don't you just...investigate?

  • Right, a mission!

  • So, it turns out that the trucks that take our general recycling

  • end up at plants like this one where it's carefully separated

  • into plastic, cardboard, metal and glass.

  • From there it gets kind of complicated.

  • Sometimes the plants turn it into new stuff right there,

  • sometimes it's taken to other recycling plants,

  • and sometimes it goes on a much, much bigger journey.

  • For years Australia has been selling about 1.3 million tonnes

  • of our recyclable waste to overseas countries

  • like China, Malaysia and Indonesia,

  • where it's converted into new things they can sell.

  • It was seen by many as a cheaper and easier solution.

  • But lately our neighbours have said

  • they're getting sick of dealing with our waste.

  • Last year China announced it was banning 24 types of waste

  • and would only accept recycling that was super, super clean.

  • And because a lot of our recycling plants

  • aren't equipped to clean things properly,

  • a lot of our recycling isn't making the cut.

  • Ugh!

  • So that recycling had to go somewhere else.

  • Indonesia and Malaysia have been taking a lot

  • but they've been struggling to deal with it too.

  • Earlier this year, Malaysia said they were getting sick

  • of receiving things like plastic bottles full of maggots -

  • yeah, fair enough -

  • and non-recyclable things like CDs and giant cables

  • which they had to send to landfill.

  • Whether it's e-waste, whether it's plastic waste

  • or whatever waste, we will send it back

  • and we will fight back.

  • Even though we are a small country,

  • we cannot be bullied by developed countries.

  • It means Australia is running out of places to send our waste

  • and that's a big problem.

  • In some cases companies have had to lease warehouses

  • to store the waste while we figure out what to do.

  • The biggest worry is, if we can't find a solution,

  • items that should be recyclable will be sent to landfill.

  • So, Australian local state and federal governments

  • and me,

  • and I'm guessing all of you,

  • are asking...

  • What are we going to do now?

  • Oh, man, I'm never going to get any sleep.

  • Hey, why are you dressed as a robber?

  • I'm a spy! I'm a spy!

  • There are a few different options.

  • We find other countries that will buy our waste.

  • We get our recycling clean enough so that China will accept it again

  • or we deal with our own waste in our own country.

  • There are plenty of companies here that do that already,

  • turning waste into everything from outdoor furniture

  • to playground equipment and building materials.

  • And some reckon there's an opportunity to do more

  • and create jobs in the process.

  • Of course, setting that up would cost a fair bit.

  • But many say it would be worth it.

  • Some say our waste crisis is also a bit of a wake-up call

  • to reduce the amount of packaging

  • we use in the first place

  • and get better at recycling it.

  • There are often different rules in different states

  • about what you can and can't recycle.

  • And some people think there should be a national labelling system.

  • You can't recycle that!

  • It's important we all do our part -

  • I'm looking at you, Matt -

  • and work together as a country to find a solution

  • so some of us can finally get some sleep.

I don't know about you

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