By Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group The fourth Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) auction has recently been announced. This matters immensely for the waste and local government sectors. So many quality projects are working hard behind the scenes to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Whether that’s a third bin diverting organics out of […]

By Virginia Brunton – Principal Consultant (Organics), MRA Consulting Group Freshcare is the fresh produce industry’s own on-farm assurance program adopted by thousands of fresh produce businesses as their key food safety program. In addition to the Food Safety and Quality (FSQ) assurance code of practice (COP) to ensure safe fruit and vegetables, Freshcare also […]

By Julien Gastaldi – Business Development Manager, MRA Consulting Group Climate policy is still lagging behind … At the time of writing, it is still not known who has won the federal election. Climate change has been relatively low profile compared to previous election campaigns and – paradoxically – this is good news. It is both […]

By Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group Since the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Waste and Resource Recovery Governance Reform in Victoria in 2013, Victoria has pushed ahead rapidly with a strategic infrastructure approach to waste infrastructure reform. The Ministerial Advisory Committee report identified the need for much more coordinated approaches to the planning […]

By Mike Ritchie – Director, MRA Consulting Group The decision to increase the levy to $103/t over 4 years will send a strong pricing signal to recyclers and waste generators in South Australia. To recyclers it is a signal to invest in new services and infrastructure and to grow jobs. To waste generators it is […]

By Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group The iconic photographs of an in-ground swimming pool stranded on a Collaroy Beach last month are a stark reminder of what severe storms and king tides can and will do to our coastline with ongoing sea level rise. The Insurance Council of Australia has said that […]

By Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group Clients regularly ask MRA why they need a waste licence for an activity which on the face of it might not look like waste processing. Recent Land and Environment Court (LEC) and Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) decisions have clarified the meaning of “waste” in NSW […]

The NSW EPA has released its fourth and final round of the Organics Infrastructure Large and Small (OILS) under the $465.7 million NSW Government Waste Less Recycle More initiative (WLRM). The new grants provide a one off opportunity to accelerate investment in recycling infrastructure and equipment that will reduce food and garden organics waste sent […]

By Virginia Brunton – Principal Consultant (Organics) and Mike Ritchie – Director, MRA Consulting Group The Great Barrier Reef is exposed to increasing pressures from climate change, rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, land-based runoff and other pressures. The summer of 2016 has been bad for the Great Barrier Reef (the Reef), one of Australia’s most […]

By Mike Ritchie – Director, MRA Consulting Group Plastic pollution of waterways and oceans is a real problem. We need to fix it. Plastic was only invented 100 years ago and now is ubiquitous in our economies and lifestyles. It is also ubiquitous in our pollution. From microbeads to plastic bottles and fish nets plastic […]

By Julien Gastaldi – Business Development Manager, MRA Consulting Group MRA Consulting Group (MRA) is proud to announce that it has successfully helped clients gain six abatement contracts with the Australia Government in the third Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), which took place on the 27th and 28th of April. These projects will consequently allow the […]

The NSW EPA has released its third round of the Resource Recovery Facility Expansion and Enhancement Program (RRFEE) under the $465.7 million NSW Government Waste Less Recycle More initiative (WLRM). The new grants provide a one off opportunity to accelerate investment in recycling infrastructure at existing facilities. The new grant funding is summarised below: Grant […]