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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 […]

WMAA Leadership’s Split Personalities
Recycling
1 April 2009

WMAA Leadership’s Split Personalities

This year’s election for the top leadership positions at the Waste Management Association of Australia is shaping up as a referendum on the organisation’s future. One camp wants WMAA to step up and take a more active role leading debate. The other argues WMAA’s primary role as a place to foster best practice training and knowledge would be threatened if certain groups were alienated by controversial […]

Lessons in Sorting Garbage
Landfill
1 April 2009

Lessons in Sorting Garbage

By Katrina Vella – Liverpool is to have a cleaner future with the opening of the SITA waste treatment plant in Kemps Creek. Liverpool residents generate 70,000 tonnes of waste a year with just 16 per cent being recycled. The plant will be able to recycle 82 percent of this. The $50 million facility, which will be fully operational in July, […]

Incentives Needed for Recycling
Recycling
3 September 2008

Incentives Needed for Recycling

By Mike Ritchie – The reality for business is that dumping waste in a landfill is often cheaper than recycling. So unless commonwealth and state governments make recycling general waste more commercially attractive. the outcome will be more landfilling. Read more

Plastic-Bag Ban Full of Holes
Landfill
24 April 2008

Plastic-Bag Ban Full of Holes

By Mike Ritchie – Reusable material being dumped into landfill is the real problem. Australians use more than four billion plastic bags a year and most of these end up in landfill. But they represent only 20,000 tonnes of waste or 0.1% of Australia’s landfill waste. Read more

Organics – Not Bags – The Real Waste Issue: Ritchie
Landfill
21 April 2008

Organics – Not Bags – The Real Waste Issue: Ritchie

By Christine Ahern – Mike Ritchie from SITA Environmental Solutions says $4 billion of investment in national waste management infrastructure will be needed in order to meet state government waste reduction and recycling targets. He also called for governments to prioritise the phasing out of degradable organic carbon to landfill. Read more

Getting Rid of Plastic Bags is a Good Start
Landfill
17 April 2008

Getting Rid of Plastic Bags is a Good Start

By Mike Ritchie – Reusable material being dumped into landfill is the real problem. If you’re left holding a handful of plastic bags after you do a big supermarket shop and you don’t feel guilty, then you might be as impervious as the plastic bag itself is to breaking down in the environment. Read more

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