Make It in Aus
Independent civic project. Not an official Australian Government website.Non-partisan: written for any government.
Make It in Aus

Household goods and recycling · first sector

Australia buys it. Let’s make it here.

Every year Australia imports billions of dollars of everyday household goods while throwing away the plastic, metal, glass and fibre that could become them. Make It in Aus is a free public workbench that shows the gap, backs small local makers, trains people on the job, and puts the evidence in front of this government and the next.

Have your say Submit a project See the evidence
  1. STEP 1

    See the gap

    Imports, waste and idle recycling capacity, from public sources with links.

  2. STEP 2

    Test an idea

    Score a product, check a grant, draft a training pilot for a small local maker.

  3. STEP 3

    Put it to government

    Vote, back ideas, submit a project, or send a briefing to a Minister or your local member.

Question 1

What do we buy from overseas?

Five household categories appear in Australia’s top 25 imports for 2024–25, in millions of Australian dollars. Bars start at zero.

    Source: DFAT, Australia’s goods and services by top 25 imports, 2024–25. The A$27.7 billion total adds the five categories above. DFAT’s groupings are broad, so some of “heating and cooling equipment” and “household-type equipment” is commercial, and many household goods sit outside the top 25. The true household figure needs tariff-line data (see the briefing for government).

    Why start here. These goods are made from plastic, metal, timber, glass and fibre. Australia already collects those materials as waste, so each import category has a possible local feedstock.

    Question 2

    What do we already have, and not use?

    Recovery rates by material. The dashed line is the national target of an 80% average resource recovery rate by 2030.

      Years differ by material, shown under each name: metals, building materials, paper, glass and organics are 2020–21 (National Waste Report 2022); e-waste is 2022; plastics are 2024. The target applies to the average across all waste streams, so it is a guide line, not a target for each bar. Textiles have no national recovery rate in our sources: over 200,000 tonnes go to landfill and over 100,000 tonnes are shipped overseas each year.

      Plastics in 2024, in thousand tonnes

        Source: Australian Plastics Flows and Fates report, as reported by Recycling International. Recycled, reprocessed and exported figures come from different counts, so they are not meant to add up.

        Plastic reprocessing capacity

          The sharpest gap in the data. Capacity to reprocess plastic reached 600,000 tonnes in 2023–24 and only about half was used. Roughly 300,000 tonnes a year of ready capacity (our arithmetic) is waiting for supply and for buyers of the output.

          Question 3

          What do we dig up and buy back?

          Australia exports iron ore, lithium and bauxite. Months later they return as cars, batteries, solar panels, household appliances and electronics, which capture far more of the value.

          14% → 5%Manufacturing’s share of GDP, mid-1970s to 2025
          868,000Australians working in manufacturing, about 5.9% of the workforce
          A$142.0bnManufacturing value added in 2024–25, against A$260.6bn for mining

          Source: SBS News, drawing on national accounts and workforce data. Analysts quoted there advise focusing on capabilities that matter for national resilience, not rebuilding every industry. That is why this site ranks ideas instead of promising all of them.

          Small scale first

          Small makers are how a local industry starts

          A new product line does not need a giant factory. It needs a supply of recycled material, a few trained people and a buyer. Small makers can test that in months, in regional towns, at a fraction of the capital.

          2.74 millionActively trading small businesses, June 2026 (fewer than 20 employees)
          97%Of all actively trading businesses in Australia
          A$50k to A$5mIndustry Growth Program grants, after a free advisory service; 140 grants worth A$209.5m so far

          A hub and spoke model

          Idle reprocessing plants become the hub. Small makers become the spokes, each turning recycled feedstock into a finished product for local buyers. This is a proposal for discussion, not a government program.

          CollectCouncils and businesses sort plastic, metal, glass, timber and fibre.
          Reprocess at the hubExisting plants with spare capacity clean and pellet the material.
          Make in small workshopsFive to twenty people press, mould, build or refurbish finished goods.
          Sell locallyRetailers, councils and government as a first buyer.
          Scale (illustrative)PeopleWhat it can doWhy it helps
          WorkshopA fewRepair, refurbish, short-run products from local wasteLowest cost. Good first home for an apprentice cohort.
          Micro-factoryAbout 5 to 20Small-scale moulding, assembly and finishing from recycled feedstockEnough volume to supply a region and employ trainees full time.
          Regional hubLargerShared reprocessing that feeds many small makersUses idle capacity so each maker does not need its own plant.

          Sources: ASBFEO small business data portal, from ABS Counts of Australian Businesses; business.gov.au Industry Growth Program. The tiers are illustrative and not official categories.

          Question 4

          Is public money reaching the right projects?

          This site cannot see who received which grant, so it does not claim anyone misused funds. It shows what is publicly reported and what data would let a reviewer check outcomes against promises.

          ProgramCommittedReported resultQuestion the data should answer
          Recycling Modernisation FundA$250m from the Commonwealth, over A$1bn with states and industryOver 1 million tonnes a year of processing capacity announcedIs announced capacity running? Plastic reprocessing capacity was about half used in 2023–24.
          Plastics technology streamA$60m over four years from 2022–23Not stated in our sourcesWhich projects, and how many tonnes of recycled plastic now go into finished products?
          National Reconstruction Fund CorporationA$15bn mandate across seven priority areasNine investments worth A$434.5m announced by 31 May 2025, against a A$550m targetThe audit office rated governance and fund arrangements “partly effective”. Do outcome measures exist for each deal?

          Sources: DCCEEW (Recycling Modernisation Fund); ANAO audit of the NRFC’s design and establishment; Recycling International (utilisation). The audit found, among other things, that the board approved investments before finalising its investment strategy.

          Spot-check a grant

          Compare a project’s public grant per tonne of annual capacity with the Recycling Modernisation Fund’s headline ratio. A high result is a prompt for questions, not proof of a problem.

          Result

          A$400

          Ask more questions

          Benchmark: A$250m of Commonwealth money for over 1 million tonnes a year is at most A$250 per tonne, because the capacity is “over” 1 million. It is a rough yardstick. Plants differ widely in cost.

          Question 5

          Who will do the work, and how do they learn it?

          Pair every new product line with paid, in-service training. Choose an idea, a state and a cohort size to draft a pilot outline and see which apprenticeship incentives may apply.

          Incentives from 1 January 2026

          • Employers: up to A$5,000 in the first year for Key Apprenticeship Program occupations.
          • Employers: A$2,500 over two years for priority-list occupations.
          • Apprentices: A$2,000 for full-time Key Apprenticeship Program apprentices.
          • Living Away From Home Allowance: A$120 a week in year 1, A$90 in year 2, A$45 in year 3.

          Source: Australian Apprenticeship Support Network. Eligibility depends on the occupation and start date.

          Choose a product line and press “Draft pilot outline”.

          Question 6

          Which product should we make first?

          Score each idea from 1 to 5 on six factors, including whether it works at small scale, and set how much each factor matters. The ranking updates as you move a slider. Open an idea to change its scores, or add your own.

          Starting assumptions. The eight example ideas and their scores are the author’s first estimates, informed by the figures above. They show how the tool works. Replace them with agency data and expert judgement before anyone relies on the ranking.

          Add your own idea to the scorer

          Public voice

          Have your say

          Answer four short questions, back an idea from the community, or add your own. Results are published as totals only. Nobody’s name is attached to a vote.

          Four questions

          Idea board

          Ideas for products made here from material we already have. New ideas appear after a quick check for safety and spam.

          Add an idea

          Young innovators

          Got a project that could make something here?

          If you are a young Australian with an idea for a product, a recycling process or a small workshop, send it in. A person will read it, help you tidy it into a briefing, and with your permission pass it to the right department or member of parliament to check. The Government decides what happens next.

          What happens next

          1. 1
            You send it

            It goes into a private queue. It is never shown publicly.

          2. 2
            A person reads it

            The team checks it is clear and safe, and may ask you for more.

          3. 3
            It is checked by the right authority

            With your permission, it is passed to a department or your local member for verification.

          4. 4
            Government decides

            Whether to proceed is up to government. Nobody can promise a reply or funding.

          Protect your idea first

          If your idea could be patented, speak to IP Australia before publishing details anywhere. Describing it publicly can count against a later patent. This form is not confidential.

          ipaustralia.gov.au

          For this government and the next

          A briefing for Ministers and parliament

          The same questions apply to any government. This page is written to be non-partisan and to be forwarded as it stands.

          One-page briefing

          • The gap. Australia imported at least A$27.7 billion in five household categories in 2024–25.
          • The waste. Plastic recycling is 13%. Over 200,000 tonnes of textiles and about 250,000 tonnes of e-waste go to landfill each year.
          • The capacity. About half of 600,000 tonnes of plastic reprocessing capacity was used in 2023–24.
          • The small-scale route. Small makers fed by idle reprocessing hubs can start fast, in regional towns, with in-service training.
          • The three asks. Publish tariff-line import data against local production. Report outcomes for each funded recycling project. Back a small-scale manufacturing and training pilot.

          Write to a Minister or your member

          Your letter will appear here. It is prepared on this page and sent nowhere. Copy it into an email or the contact form on the official website.

          Ways to reach government directly

          Petition

          House of Representatives petition

          A petition with 50 or more signatures is referred to a Minister, who must give a written response within 90 days. E-petitions need Committee approval first.

          How petitions work
          Your member

          Your local member of parliament

          Every Australian has a federal member. A member can raise a project with the relevant Minister.

          Find senators and members
          Funding

          Industry Growth Program

          A free advisory service, then matched grants from A$50,000 to A$5 million for commercialising innovative projects.

          business.gov.au
          Department

          Industry, Science and Resources

          The department responsible for industry innovation and the Australian Space Agency.

          industry.gov.au

          Data a government would need to supply

          • Customs import lines by tariff code, matched to Australian production, to find the exact products we make too little of.
          • Facility-level throughput against capacity, to show which recycling plants are idle and why.
          • Project-level grant outcomes against promises, so funding can be checked for jobs, tonnes and products delivered.
          • Regional skills supply, to place training where trainees and employers are.
          • Public procurement spend, because a guaranteed first buyer often lets a local line start.

          Next sectors, after household goods

          • Building products from construction and demolition waste, the largest stream at 25.1 million tonnes (2020–21).
          • Clothing and textiles, under the Seamless product stewardship scheme.
          • Electronics repair and remanufacture, from about 500,000 tonnes of e-waste a year.
          • Food and drink packaging.

          Sources

          Each figure on this site comes from one of these. Where a source covers a range of years, the page names the year.