AWT

There's no such thing as a zero-waste society. There will always be residuals that can't be reused, recycled, or recovered. So, what do we do with them?

Sydney has three options to avoid a looming waste crisis – boost recycling by increasing the waste levy to $200, build new landfills, or allow more energy recovery projects, says Mike Ritchie of MRA Consulting Group.

Australia generates 2.4 million tonnes of plastic every year. It comes in all shapes and polymers. Car parts, sofas, drink containers, medical equipment, pallet wrap and single use packaging. You name a product in the economy and sure enough it will have plastic in it or in its supply chain.

Tasmania’s Parliament just passed the Waste and Resource Recovery Bill 2021, introducing a landfill levy and with it, bringing the state into line with other Australian jurisdictions.

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.

MRA’s Mike Ritchie was interviewed by Kevin Warner on waste in Australia, the current landscape for energy from waste and what the road ahead looks like.

Could smaller scale be a viable and preferred alternative for metropolitan Australia instead of larger scale incinerators and challenge the misconception of WtE facilities being “big hungry beasts”?

Sustainability Victoria recently opened the Bioenergy Infrastructure Fund grants offering a total of $750,000 in funding for government organisations (including state, local and federal), community organisations, businesses and social enterprises over two streams; Infrastructure and Business case or feasibility/technical study.

The introduction of National Sword restrictions on the import of recyclables to China has permitted some commentators to call for recyclables to be used in Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities. Several have proposed EfW as a solution for plastic, paper and cardboard. While EfW is higher up the waste hierarchy and beneficial over landfill (it recovers the full energy value), I caution against this line of argument.

When developed alongside strong recycling and organics processing systems, Energy from Waste (EfW) will help lift domestic and commercial diversion rates from 60% to 80-90%. It is an important element in a waste management system.

MRA’s Mike Ritchie delivered his view on the future of Energy from Waste (EfW) in Australia at the fourth Waste Expo conference last Wednesday. “Australia’s efforts related to Energy from Waste (EfW) are considerably less advanced when compared to some developed countries. The reasons for this are to be found in a complex combination of […]

By Ron Wainberg – Technical Director, MRA Consulting Group Energy from Waste (EfW) is very well established overseas, but in Australia it has yet to get off the ground. The reasons for this are to be found in a complex combination of different historical factors: adequate landfill capacity, poor financial incentives, unfavourable public perceptions and lack […]