Climate Change

Australia generates 61.5 MT of “core” waste. Of this, 20.5 MT is sent to landfill.

I am glad that Local Government has levers that can reduce emissions and slow climate change.

The recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports paint a grim picture of the impacts of climate change and the pervasive lack of substantive action to combat it.

The COP26 climate change summit took place between 31 October and 13 November 2021 in Glasgow. The reason we needed this summit is that we are very efficient at pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere but singularly useless at getting it back out again.

The COP26 climate change summit took place between 31 October and 13 November 2021 in Glasgow. The reason we needed this summit is that we are very efficient at pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere but singularly useless at getting it back out again.

For more than ten years, MRA has been arguing for an “Organics Revolution” in Australia to remove organics from landfill.

The single biggest greenhouse gas emissions decision you will make as Mayor, is “Are we still sending organic waste to landfill?”

There is only one technology that we know of that can reliably suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it. Photosynthesis. It is what every plant on the planet does every day.

The waste and recycling industry contributes close to 3% of Australia’s direct emissions. However, recycling abates much more by capturing the embodied energy of the recovered materials. We can create a more sustainable Australia by reducing emissions, increasing recycling and growing new green jobs.

Organics to landfill make up more than half of all waste to landfill in Australia. They are also responsible for a fair amount of the waste sector's GHG emissions. How can we create environmental benefits and stimulate the economic growth sorely needed post COVID-19?

If global food waste was a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, behind the U.S. and China One thing we can do to combat climate change as individuals, households, local councils, state governments and federal governments is address food waste to landfill. So, what are our options?

Projections show Australia is very unlikely to meet its current 2030 carbon reduction targets, with recent reports of increasing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from all sectors other than the electricity and agriculture industries. Australia needs to do more and the waste and recycling sector can lead the charge in emissions reduction.