Knowing your recycling rate turns a vague intention into a measurable number you can improve. This estimator takes a one-week waste audit, splits it into recyclable streams and general waste, and reports both your diversion rate and the carbon you avoid by not sending those materials to landfill.
How it works
The rate is a simple ratio, and the carbon saving sums per-material avoided emissions:
recycled weight = paper + plastic + glass + metal + organic
total waste = recycled weight + general waste
recycling rate = recycled weight / total waste × 100
CO2 saved (kg/week) = Σ (material weight × net saving factor per kg)
annual CO2 saved = weekly saving × 52The saving factor for each material is the net CO2e avoided versus landfilling it — high for metals and paper, lower for glass — so the same recycling rate can deliver very different carbon outcomes depending on the mix.
Why material mix matters as much as rate
Two households might both recycle 60 percent of their waste by weight but have very different carbon impacts depending on what fills that 60 percent. Metal cans and aluminium foil carry a dramatically higher carbon saving per kilogram than glass bottles, because making aluminium from scratch requires enormous energy while remelting recycled aluminium uses a fraction of that. Paper recycling also avoids significant methane from landfill decomposition. Glass, though heavy, has a lower per-kilogram saving because it requires less energy to make from virgin silica than metals do from ore. The upshot: diverting a few cans and a pile of old cardboard does more carbon work per kilogram than an equivalent weight of glass.
Illustrative worked example
For example, a typical four-person household generating 12 kg of waste per week:
| Stream | Weight | Destination |
|---|---|---|
| Paper and cardboard | 2 kg | Recycling |
| Plastic bottles | 1 kg | Recycling |
| Glass jars and bottles | 1.5 kg | Recycling |
| Metal cans and foil | 0.5 kg | Recycling |
| Food and garden waste | 3 kg | Composting |
| General residual | 4 kg | Landfill |
Recycled weight = 2 + 1 + 1.5 + 0.5 + 3 = 8 kg. Recycling rate = 8 ÷ 12 = 67 percent — comfortably above the EU 2025 target of 55 percent.
The quick wins
- Separate food waste. Food going to composting or anaerobic digestion is often the single biggest lever. A household binning 3 kg of food waste per week into general rubbish instead of an organic collection can drop from 67 percent to only 42 percent in this example.
- Capture every metal item. Aluminium cans, tin cans, foil trays, and lids carry outsized carbon savings per gram. Even small weights matter.
- Reduce contamination. A plastic bag inside a paper recycling bin can cause an entire load to be rejected and sent to landfill. Rinse containers; separate thoroughly.
- Do a one-week audit. Weigh each bin before putting it out — a kitchen scale works — to get real numbers rather than estimates.