In Italy, tiny bins are collected a couple of times a week. They have a clear plastic bag so the collector can check that you are sorting correctly!

In the past couple of weeks, I've travelled enough to spend several nights in motels.

I won't name the site at which the picture was taken so as not to embarrass the owners, but I think their well-intentioned voluntary four-bin approach illustrates Australia's problem.

You see, we have virtually quit manufacturing in Australia. The motel had Chinese soap, toilet paper and cosmetics. The towels were from Pakistan, the electricals were from Asia. It would be a safe bet that the refurbished fittings were also imported. Yet Asian countries are now banning our recycling waste.

So even if we recycle perfectly, how can recycled materials be re-used in Australia?

The market for recycled paper in Australia, for example, is shrinking. The Albury paper mill is set to close at Christmas, costing 200 jobs. Our waste paper might end up at Visy in Tumut to become a cardboard box. But without manufacturers, who needs boxes?

We can understand why Visy's Anthony Pratt was being feted by President Trump for opening his largest factory not in Australia, but in Ohio. Scott Morrison was there to congratulate Visy.

Visy has invested $1.9 billion in the US, because that is where Trump's manufacturing revolution is happening and where power prices are affordable.

Plastics are one of our biggest problems, but a Queensland University study showed that supermarkets will make $71 million from selling you "reusable" plastic bags, and will save $140 million by not having to supply us with single-use plastic shopping bags. A case of profits up-up, while our pockets go down-down!

And don't believe the Coca-Cola hype about recycled plastic bottles. According to the ABC, the recycled resin is made in Taiwan, using Asian plastic waste. At the tip with tree droppings after recent wind storms, I was raking out my trailer as one of the garbage trucks dumped its greenwaste load. The tinkling sounds immediately gave away that the load contained broken glass and other rubbish.

Yes, the driver said, you could guess where the load came from just by listening as it was unloaded. If Wagga people won't co-operate by putting only green waste and compostable foodstuffs in the green bin, what chance do we have?

But Wagga tip mixes pallets and building timber offcuts, both treated with poisons, with green waste. Even if shredded and composted, the whole pile is then unsuitable for garden use.

The cumbersome deposit refund scheme may be recycling soft drink cans, but why can't these be crushed and redeemed by weight?

Glass is energy intensive to recycle. Processing plants in South Australia and Victoria have been forced to close. Attempts have been made to crush glass into sand for use as roadbase. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Isn't that the mantra? The real solution is to re-use bottles.

The power of the liquor industry is on display for all to see when soft drink containers are taxed 10c, but booze bottles are not. Beer and wine containers are a large percentage of the bin-load in many households. If all liquor containers were standardised so that any bottler could refill any similar bottle, re-using could replace recycling.

If all soft drink bottles were glass and standardised, these too could be refilled.

Real environmental savings would come from reduced freight, because once again bottling plants might be located in country towns. Even Coca-Cola used to be bottled in Wagga.

A national ban on waste exports, including glass, paper, plastic and tyres will be phased in from July next year.

Again I ask, with high energy prices forcing our factories to move to China, how can our recycled waste be used?