BRAD Impact Report FY 24/25: Inside BRAD's Record-Breaking Year

When Lottie Dalziel launched the Banish Recycling and Disposal Program (BRAD), the goal was simple: give Australians a way to recycle the stuff their kerbside bin simply won't take. What she couldn't have predicted was just how fast and how far that idea would travel.

The FY2024–2025 impact report is in, and the numbers tell a remarkable story.

A Million Milestones

Over the past 12 months, BRAD diverted more than 1 million items from landfill, a 60% increase on the previous financial year. In total, the program kept 7.8 tonnes of materials out of waste streams, the equivalent of roughly 146 kilograms every single week.

These aren't just statistics. Behind every kilogram is a household that chose to do things differently.

The Items Nobody Else Will Take

What makes BRAD unique is what it accepts. Blister packs, coffee cups, plastic bottle top lids, bread tags, contact lenses, toothpaste tubes, beer clips, reading glasses, the list of "unrecyclables" that BRAD has made recyclable keeps growing.

The process behind each of these is genuinely circular. Bottle top lids are sorted by colour, shredded, and pressed into new products. Coffee cups are transformed into road-paving materials and building panels. Even beer clips are de-stickered, washed, and sent back to local breweries for reuse.

You can read our full BRAD 2024/25 Impact Report here.

How It Works

Participating couldn't be simpler. Households buy a prepaid label online, pack their hard-to-recycle items into whatever box they have at home (an old Weetbix box works just fine), and post it in. BRAD receives 30–50 parcels every day, and a dedicated team of volunteers sorts each before sending materials to specialist Australian micro-recyclers.

An estimated 10,000+ households are currently filling up their BRAD boxes, with most taking around six months to accumulate enough to send off.

The trajectory is clear. BRAD is continuing to expand its materials list, grow its volunteer community, and scale its reach across Australia. As Lottie puts it: "I firmly believe in the collective power of individuals making small changes to create a significant impact."

If you want to be part of it grab a label, pack a box, and send it in. One small change at a time.