Australia, like many countries, has an uncoordinated patchwork system of what we recycle, how we recycle it and how we measure results. We are comparatively good at recycling certain "profitable" materials like steel, paper, masonry and aluminium. But we're "pretty poor at recycling difficult materials such as plastics … [which are] critically dangerous to human health and environmental sustainability", according to experts.. The German example Germany has a coordinated approach to waste and recycling. In the newly unified Germany of the early 1990s, rules were introduced about treating and recycling waste. Critically, the producers of packaging were required to take part, via a system called "extended producer responsibility", The producer has to bring a system to the cities, where consumers are able to put the packaging in a bin. And then — by tendering — the producer has to find waste management firms that collect, transport and recycle the contents. The costs are passed on to the consumer, but are typically very small. A bottle of shampoo, for example, might cost a couple of cents more, Dr Morscheck, a German waste expert says. "Businessessee that there's a huge reputational risk for them when they use plastics and then these plastics end up strangling fauna in the oceans and washing up on beaches around the world," he says. "That's very bad for their brands." And it's a system that has helped Germany achieve recycling success. Dr Morscheck says that in 1990, the country had roughly "zero recycling". "Now I think nearly 60 to 70 per cent of household waste is recycled. And the other part — [roughly] 30 per cent — is treated and then dumped." Dr Morscheck describes his own household in the German city of Rostock. There's a yellow bin for plastic and metal packaging, a blue bin for paper, a brown bin for organic waste, and a remaining bin for non-recyclables. To recycle glass, he can go to a supermarket or another facility, where brown, clear or green glass items are put in different bins. Germans can deposit glass bottles at their localtm supermarket. Nearby shops also have facilities for recycling batteries and textiles. "In Rostock, a city with 210,000 inhabitants, we have five recycling yards. These are points with a lot of containers … where you can bring garden waste, construction waste. If you have an old fridge or electronic waste, you can take it there," he says. The South Korean example South Korea is a global leader in waste management, with the MIT Technology Review's Green Future Index 2022 calling it "one of the world's best recycling economies". The country has a system of extended producer responsibility, like in Germany. South Korea's recycling rates have increased significantly since the 1980s. And it has also implemented "volume-based tipping", where households pay for waste they cannot recycle. "Each household has separate bins in front of their apartment. So we separate out all of the recyclables – metals, plastics and papers," "Then the rest of the waste, which can't be put in the recycling bins, [is counted] in the volume-based tipping price." He says the system has worked. "Before 1985, maybe our recycling rate was less than 10 per cent … [Since] 2010, the recycling rate is close to 60 per cent." What countries like Australia could do differently "You definitely want to encourage the development of extended producer responsibility systems, ideally, harmonised across states and with some guidance provided by the Commonwealth," one expert says.