Project YellowSail - Recycling App - Information for Stakeholders

NSW EPA and ACOR building an innovative approach to kerbside recycling education  
Promoting positive choices and improving recycling behaviours

With funding support from the NSW EPA, ACOR is developing an innovative, and world-first, education campaign to support local council efforts to reduce contamination in kerbside recycling.

Kicking off in NSW, the program will soon launch Australia’s first photo recognition recycling app and supporting kerbside education campaign.  The exciting new app will allow people to take a photograph of an item and immediately find out where it can be recycled in their NSW locality, based on geolocation and the recycling system available in that location.

The app will support existing local council efforts to communicate correct recycling behavior in their jurisdictions by providing relevant information to visitors, new residents, temporary residents and others AND by providing positive disposal instructions for all items that could be disposed in any kerbside bin. 

The app will also be supported by the release of a recycling education tool kit for local councils with educational collateral to tackle:​
  • Major contamination issues in the kerbside system        
         It is estimated that between 10-15% of the materials collected in kerbside recycling is incorrectly disposed so cannot be recycled
  • Major areas of confusion
         Not all council recycling systems are the same so the app will provide localised information to help people whether at home, at a            friend’s house or if on holidays
  • People losing faith in recycling
         Community faith in recycling is being challenged with negative media serving to undermine community confidence. Australians                who regularly recycle are questioning if their efforts matter. Information will be provided to demonstrate recycling is NOT a con                and is worth it.
  • People seeking more information about the recycling process
         90% of people support improving the kerbside recycling system but many want more detail. The recycling story will be                            documented to show “what happens if I recycle right, what happens if I get it wrong and what happens if I don’t recycle at all”.


The campaign is coming soon with a pilot release due in June before the state-wide roll out.