Australia's recycling system is in crisis. China, which previously took about half the paper and plastic thrown into yellow-topped bins, has refused to take anything but the most highly sorted, cleaned, and processed waste.

That change of policy has sent the global price for recyclable waste plummeting, leaving Australia's recycling industry at risk of going broke.

But many see the crisis as an opportunity for Australia to build the infrastructure needed to keep our rubbish on shore.

The Greens have proposed the Federal Government invest $500 million over five years as concessional loans to the industry, but the recycling industry itself says it can be done for much cheaper — $150 million.

And the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) has even laid out a roadmap for how a reboot could work. It looks like this:

Everyone across Australia needs the same bins: $28m

Some Sydney councils have blue and yellow recycling bins, along with a general waste bin. ( AAP: Tracey Nearmy )

The fundamental problem is that China will only take individual types of waste that are 99.5 per cent uncontaminated with other materials.

But on average, 10 per cent of what's thrown in yellow bins around the country is not recyclable.

To get that down to 1 or 2 per cent ACOR proposes spending $28m on:

harmonising the collection systems

harmonising the collection systems producing clear and identical information for everyone

producing clear and identical information for everyone running an information campaign

That money would also be used to create a national waste database to let the industry know what waste is where, and help them commit to investments where they are most needed.

Sorting centres need to be upgraded: $33m

Sorting centres need to do a better job at separating waste items. ( ABC News: Johanna Marie )

Getting less contamination in our recycling bins is only part of the problem.

Sorting centres also need to do a better job separating waste into its various streams, and removing non-recyclable material.

An injection of about $33m should be enough to upgrade the existing centres with new robotic sorting machines, better filters, and more workers.

More factories needed to produce paper pulp and plastic pellets: $57m

The final step before that material can be used in manufacturing is to clean it and grind it down.

That means expanding paper pulp mills, and building new centres that grind plastic and glass.

At a cost of $57m, ACOR says most of Australia's waste could be ready to be reused.

Using raw materials for infrastructure: $32m

Recycled materials could be used more to builds roads and other infrastructure. ( ABC News: Gregory Nelson )

Once the material is separated, cleaned and ground up, it would probably be able to be sold to the international market.

But that still means shipping our waste overseas, and relying on those countries' systems continuing to buy it.

To create demand in Australia, ACOR has called for the Government to invest:

$20m in preferentially choosing to buy recycled material when it builds roads and other infrastructure

$20m in preferentially choosing to buy recycled material when it builds roads and other infrastructure $8m for research and innovation

$8m for research and innovation $4m for a scheme to encourage the public to buy recycled products

Burn waste and turn it into energy: $??

Federal and state environment ministers are meeting on Friday to discuss the problem. Among the options flagged by the Federal Government has been "waste to energy".

This can mean a lot of things. Experts say, for some types of waste, particularly burning food waste, this could be an important part of the solution.

But the current recycling crisis is mainly about plastics, paper and glass. And when it comes to plastic bottles, for example, experts are less enthusiastic about burning them for energy.

"It only recovers a small proportion of resources and energy that went into creating the bottle in the first place," said Jenni Downes from the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney.

She said you get much more value from the material by recycling it, than burning it for energy.

And, she added, if you did start burning those waste streams, it could reduce the demand for more sustainable solutions.

"The concern that we have is that if you invest in that waste to energy … now as a short-term solution, you're actually sinking money in a short-term solution that could potentially crowd our longer-term solutions that have better value," Ms Downes said.