With reference to State Government funding recently provided towards Australia's first national online shopping directory devoted to recycled and recyclable products-

Will the Minister outline how this will help Queenslanders to tackle the global challenge of climate change?

ANSWER

The National Database of Recycled Products is a database devoted to recycled products. The database will provide transparent, detailed and consistent information on a range of recycled products available across Australia.

The database was developed by the Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA), which is a national, non-profit association of businesses united by a commitment to increase markets for secondary resources by promoting, purchasing and using recycled content products, packaging and other materials. Their foundation members include leading companies such as Amcor Australasia, Australian Paper, Corporate Express, Fosters Group, Fuji Xerox, McDonalds and Visy Industries.

The Directory provides recycled product information in a level of detail never previously available to consumers. Each listing includes a detailed product overview including price, size and average percentage (by weight) of Reused Material; Remanufactured Material; Pre-consumer Content; Post-consumer Content; and Re-utilised Materials.

Any product that includes a percentage of reused, remanufactured or recycled content material in its composition can be listed in the Directory. Current listings include products within categories such as agriculture, pet care, building and construction, hospitality, industrial supplies, landscaping, office supplies and furniture.

The Queensland Government sees the database as important to ensuring that the resource recovery industry remains sustainable. The database will help industry, governments and the community make informed purchasing decisions on sustainable recycled products. Using recycled products is beneficial to the environment and in tackling the climate change challenge because recycling conserves our natural resources including oil, trees, energy and water, and reduces the amount of waste going to landfill.

Recycling also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. A typical Australian household recycling 3.76 kilograms per week avoids the creation of 106 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent each year. On a household basis this is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 50 percent of the electricity used for lighting in the home.

Some other examples of the benefits of recycling include:

• Recycling aluminium uses 5 percent of the energy required to produce aluminium cans from raw materials. Recycling one tonne of aluminium saves 15.2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent; 171 Gigajoule Gj of energy and 233,000 litres (L) of water.
• Making steel from recycled material uses only a quarter of the energy needed to make steel from raw materials. Recycling one tonne of steel saves .8 tonnes of CO2 equivalent; 32.9 Gj of energy and 1,100 L of water.
• Manufacturing plastics from recycled materials uses 30 percent of energy required to make plastic products from fossil fuels. Recycling one tonne of Polyethylene Terephthalate plastic saves 1.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent; and 49.5 Gj of energy.
• Recycling one tonne of paper and cardboard saves 13 trees and 31,000 L of water.
• Glass can be recycled again and again indefinitely, and recycled glass is now the major raw material for glass manufacture in Australia. Recycling glass saves about 70 percent of the energy it takes to make glass from raw materials. The greenhouse benefit associated with glass recycling arises mainly from the avoided processing of soda ash and lime, required to produce virgin glass.

Climate change is caused by an increase in greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere. Queenslanders who use the National Database of Recycled Products to buy recycled products will be helping to tackle the global challenge of climate change through reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and conserving trees and fossil fuels.