Free Recycling Rate calculator with clear step-by-step results.
A recycling rate is the recycled stream divided by total waste arising, but the collected figure is not the recycled figure. Material rejected at the sorting facility for contamination — wet paper, food-soiled card, the wrong plastics, bagged recyclables — is diverted to disposal, so the honest rate is measured after rejection. Diversion is the broader metric, adding composting and digestion to recycling, and it is the one most zero-waste targets are written against.
Accepted recycling
Accepted = collected recycling × (1 − contamination rate)
Rates
Recycling % = accepted ÷ total waste × 100; diversion % = (accepted + composted) ÷ total waste × 100
Statutory recycling and diversion rates are defined differently across jurisdictions, particularly in how contamination, energy recovery and export are treated. Use the prescribed methodology for any reported figure.
It removes material from the recycling stream and can downgrade an entire load. Contamination rates of 10-25% are common in commingled kerbside collections, which is why the headline and post-rejection figures diverge.
Recycling means material reprocessed into new products. Diversion is anything kept out of landfill and incineration, so it also counts composting and anaerobic digestion. Diversion is always the higher number.
Not under most definitions used here — incineration with energy recovery sits below recycling and composting in the waste hierarchy and is treated as disposal. Some jurisdictions count it separately as recovery.