Inside Waste Consultants’ Review
Waste
1 February 2012

Inside Waste Consultants’ Review

Who are Australia’s leading consultants in the waste and recycling industry? To answer this question, Inside Waste asked industry and government exactly that. The inaugural Inside Waste Consultants Survey was established to gauge the market. It first asked organisations which waste consultancies had completed the largest volume of projects and the highest value of contracts with them in the last two […]

What is True Cost of Carbon from Landfills?
Landfill
19 January 2012

What is True Cost of Carbon from Landfills?

Having read Mike Ritchie’s blog ‘Carbon Price: how not to overcharge or be overcharged‘ – I write to put the record straight regarding the likely price impacts from the Clean Energy Bill. Yes, there are three variables that influence the direct carbon price increase at landfills: 1) The waste emission liability 2) The price of carbon […]

Carbon Price: How not to Overcharge or be Overcharged
Waste
16 January 2012

Carbon Price: How not to Overcharge or be Overcharged

Here we are at the end of a 6-year negotiation that began with the CPRS and NGERS and has finished with the Carbon Pricing Mechanism (CPM) and the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). There has been scarce communication from the Commonwealth as the issues have been free flowing, subject to ongoing negotiations at both the specialist […]

Potential of Recycling Still to be Recognised
Recycling
21 November 2011

Potential of Recycling Still to be Recognised

The government’s announcement of a carbon price plan might well lead to a rise in recycling rates for high embodied energy materials such as aluminium and plastics, but could also bring challenges such as increased operating costs. While the industry awaits further details from the government, industry consultant Mike Ritchie said the carbon plan is the right reform but that waste and recycling remain the […]

Is Education Wasted on C&I?
Recycling
5 September 2011

Is Education Wasted on C&I?

Every waste conference has a stream for waste education. But in the fastest growing generator – commercial and Industrial (C&I) – does it produce any results? By results I refer to real reductions in waste to landfill measured in hundreds of thousands of tonnes – the scale on which other initiatives such as landfill pricing, […]

Waste Explosion
Waste
1 May 2011

Waste Explosion

Many of us are conscientious recyclers who use our council bins, compost waste and say no to plastic bags. However, as KAREN SHAW finds out, there’s still so much more to be done. Read more  

Know Your Streams
Recycling
1 April 2011

Know Your Streams

By Mike Ritchie – Landfill charges in Sydney are going to increase from $200 a tonne to $300 in the next four years, courtesy of the landfill levy, rising landfill costs and inflation. The same trend is happening in Victoria, Queensland and other major cities as a result of government policies, particularly levies, stricter environmental […]

Killing Two Birds … The Compost and Carbon Story
Recycling
2 September 2010

Killing Two Birds … The Compost and Carbon Story

By Mike Ritchie, MRA Consulting Group Global warming is the problem  Global warming, due to anthropogenic (your and my) emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), is a reality that all but a few fringe dwellers, now accept. In a natural system plants photosynthesis CO2 from the atmosphere, expire oxygen and take up soil nutrients. Plants are […]

Carbon Committee to Champion Waste
Waste
1 June 2010

Carbon Committee to Champion Waste

By Mike Ritchie – The WMAA has moved to strengthen the voice of the waste industry in forming a National Carbon Committee. It is important that potential contribution from the waste industry is recognised in any scheme and is not lost in the debate about the major emitters like power stations. The waste industry has the ability to produce, at relatively […]

Clever waste contracts
Waste
7 May 2010

Clever waste contracts

As levies rise throughout Australia, here are the essential tips on how to get the best waste collection service possible. Industry veteran Mike Ritchie gives the low down. Companies regularly ask for advice on the ‘best’ and most cost-effective recycling and waste management systems, particularly in a rapidly changing market with lots of innovation going […]

CPRS Conversations from WasteQ Conference
Waste
9 June 2009

CPRS Conversations from WasteQ Conference

Efforts to “demystify” the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme dominated early discussions at the WasteQ conference in Brisbane. Delegates heard from a range of speakers, who raised almost as many questions as they answered. The take home message for councils was there remains a great deal of uncertainty surrounding carbon regulation, and they need to […]

Infrastructure Critical for Future Waste Management
Landfill
13 May 2009

Infrastructure Critical for Future Waste Management

By Angela Dorizas – The waste management industry has called for government intervention and investment in alternative waste technologies to prevent carbon pricing from crippling local communities. Speaking at the New South Wales Sustainable Development Conference in Sydney, state president of the Waste Management Association of Australia, Mike Ritchie, warned that without government intervention the increasing volume of […]

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