Circular Economy

Australia generates 316,000 tonnes of HDPE plastic per year. Most is landfilled. If every MGB in Australia was required to be black, that alone would absorb 258,000 t of HDPE by adding 10.4kg of recycled content to every MGB at every home.

As our cities become bigger we are living more in units and flats (MUDs or multi-unit dwellings) rather than houses (SUDs or single unit dwellings).

Kerbside FOGO collection and processing to compost is gaining steam around Australia. So, what is the optimal bin configuration?

A response to Sam Bateman’s “Is landfill part of the circular economy?”

From 1 July 2021, all plastic exports will require a licence from the Commonwealth and mixed (unsorted) plastic exports are banned.

The NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041: (Stage 1 – 2021-2027) has endorsed diversion of organic waste from landfill to deliver substantive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from NSW landfills.

Federal Environment Minister Susan Ley supports standardised waste collection systems, including a common bin lid colour across Australia. We propose to also standardise the colour of the bin's body to maximise recycled plastic use.

More and more councils now collect FOGO at the kerbside. Will three bins become the new standard?

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.

Karinne Taylor critically reviews the House Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources report “From Rubbish to Resources: Building a Circular Economy”.

Landfilled organics result to significant GHG emissions and a waste of valuable nutrients. Banning the landfilling of household and commercial food and garden waste would stimulate jobs growth, divert millions of tonnes from landfill, generate compost, sequester carbon in soils and reduce Australia's GHG footprint.