It has now been over a year since China introduced its National Sword policy to restrict the importation of kerbside recyclable materials from the rest of the world. The purpose of the policy was to increase the recovery of domestically generated recyclables within China and further boost its own manufacturing. The new rule is a 0.5% contamination rate in Australian exported material. Few Australian Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) were built for that level of purity.

The NSW EPA has opened the $13 million landfill consolidation grants program under the NSW Government Waste Less Recycle More initiative (WLRM). EPA logo 2017The NSW EPA has opened the $13 million landfill consolidation grants program under the NSW Government Waste Less Recycle More initiative (WLRM). The new grants support regional and rural councils in addressing identified environmental issues posed by landfill activities.

The news on our climate is not good as the recently released CSIRO and BOM report confirm the continued warming of Australia’s climate and oceans: “Observations and climate modelling paint a consistent picture of ongoing, long‑term climate change interacting with underlying natural variability.”

MRA would like to wish you and your family a safe, happy and sustainable festive season. We thank you for your continued support in 2018 and look forward to working with you in 2019!

With landfill levies in NSW at $140.20/t you would think that sorting of commercial waste would be more common than it is. Less than 5% of the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) waste in NSW is put through a processing plant to recover the valuable materials. In other words, less than 120,000t of the 5.5 MT that is generated is put through a processing plant. There are no dedicated C&I sorting facilities in other States (and landfill levies are lower).

Albury City Council and the Halve Waste Initiative won the SUEZ Outstanding Regional Local Government Award at the national inaugural Waste Management Association of Australia and Inside Waste Awards.

The annual WasteMINZ Conference (5-8 November 2018) is wrapping up in Christchurch at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand and Mike was amongst the first to present on its second day. Mike outlined the challenges and impacts of China's National Sword policy on local recycling markets and described the industry's current and potential responses.

Inside Waste and the Waste Management Association of Australia are holding the inaugural Resource Recovery Excellence Awards and three of MRA's finest have made the final cut. While Mike has been nominated for 'Executive of the Year' in recognition of his sound decision-making, organisational impact and leadership in the broader community, both Nav and James are finalists in the 'Young Professional of the Year' category.

MRA's Mike Ritchie presented yesterday at the International Solid Waste Association 2018 World Congress held at Kuala Lumpur. Mike's presentation focused on China's National Sword and its impact on Australia's recycling.

MRA is actively engaging in the waste management debate and this week has seen two of our own being extensively quoted on national newspapers. The Financial Review has reported on MRA's submission to the ACCC on the proposed merging of Bingo and DADI, quoting Mike Ritchie on the expected positive outcomes of the merger in terms of improved recovery rates for C&I waste in Sydney.

The NSW EPA has opened round 3 of its $3M Organics Market Development grants under the NSW Government Waste Less Recycle More initiative (WLRM). The new grants support activities that will improve the demand for recycled organics.

Responding to Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy's request for feedback on priority issues to be considered in future Australian waste management and resource recovery, MRA has prepared a submission to the 'Updating the 2009 National Waste Policy' (NWP) discussion paper.