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Inside Waste readers have once again voted MRA Best Small Consultancy in Australia in the 2014 Consultants Review. Not only was MRA voted best overall, our team of dedicated professionals were recognised in the following categories: Best in data management and auditing Best in education and training Best in community consultation Best in strategy, policy and planning […]

I have serious doubts about the claims the NSW Government is losing $100 million in landfill levy money at present and that this could grow to $200 million quickly. The solution is the reintroduction of a Queensland levy. At a NSW landfill levy of $95.20/t for the NSW Government to be losing $100 million – […]

With Sydney waste transfer stations set to cross the $275 per tonne barrier for the first time, it’s time to ramp up resource recovery. The drivers The effect of the NSW landfill levy, carbon pricing and compliance obligations on landfills and transfer stations, will push up pricing from 1 July 2012 by $35/t and possibly […]

On paper the new waste strategy to be implemented in WA over the next 20 years looks good, but will it boost recovery of business waste, wonders Mike Ritchie. In its review of commercial and industrial (C&I) waste in WA released last year my company, Mike Ritchie and Associates (MRA), found the state continued to […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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  

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 […]

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 […]