Plastic Propoganda

Plastic Propoganda

Plastic is an industry that is prevelant in consumer products. From take away containers to packaging material plastic is everywhere in our lives. However, the idea that the plastic we put into our recycling bins is recycled is largely a lie that has been purpotrated by the producers of plastic in order to make money. As an aside you can see that the 10 cent refund for each container policy in South Australia has seemingly impacted the amount of recycling in SA compared to every other state or territory.

This website seeks to illuminate just how much plastic is really recycled as well as some bonus information on the decomposition time for the different types of plastic.

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Australia Map

Plastic Fate

Plastic Type

By Julian Draudins & Thuy Tien Le

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Filter By Year:

Filter By Plastic:

Filter By Stream:

Filter By Fate:

Australia GeoMap aims to demonstrate the amount of waste generated for each state of Australia from 2006 to 2018. A bar chart is also included on the mouse hover on each state to shows the difference between landfill and recycling. The Jurisdiction bar chart is used to compare the amount of waste between the states. Furthermore, the filter menu is included to help with information drill down on the year, plastic type, stream (origin of waste), and the fate of the waste.

Please note yearly data is for the financial year, and the years 2007, 2011 and 2012 were missing from the government database.

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The Plastic Fate Line Chart demonstrates the wide gap between plastics that end up in landfill versus plastics that are recycled or converted to energy (from incinerating plastic).

Notice that there is a break in the scale as Energy from waste facility was difficult to interpret on a continuous scale. The hover functionality is included to show the exact tonnage of the plastic waste's fate in specific years.

Please note yearly data is for the financial year, and the years 2007, 2011 and 2012 were missing from the government database.

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Filter By Year:

The logos that are shown on the plastic product does not mean the product is recyclable, rather it is categorising what type of plastic the product is made from:

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET): the perfect container for soda bottles, water bottles, clamshell packaging, potato chip bags, produce bags and several other grocery-type packaging.

High density polyethylene (HDPE): detergent bottles, bleach bottles, milk cartons, shampoo and conditioner bottles, motor oil and many other non-food items.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC): found in a number of items from pipes to children’s toys.

Low density polyethylene (LDPE): what our current plastic grocery bags are made of.

Polypropylene (PP): generally found in more permanent capacities such as rope, clothing and performed shower kits.

Polystyrene (PS): the plastic in Styrofoam packaging peanuts, cups, coolers and many other lightweight applications.

Other plastics: this includes anything not in codes one through six.

Plastic Waste by Type bar chart is an extension of Plastic Propaganda, where it intends to demonstrate the amount of waste generated for each plastic type broken down by years. Moreover, the specific tonnage of waste and decomposition time are shown by hovering over each category of plastic. To exhibit the changes in consumption of each type of plastic over the years, an animation will be shown by clicking the ‘Run Animation’ button

Please note yearly data is for the financial year, and the years 2007, 2011 and 2012 were missing from the government database.