Landfill

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

MRA welcomes the announcement by the Tasmanian Government on the introduction of a waste levy in Tasmania.

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.

One billion single use coffee cups are sent to landfill every year. Sounds like a lot but this represents less than 0.0004% of the waste generated in Australia per year. So, what can we do to deal with coffee cups so that we can focus on significant streams like organics (particularly food), which represent around 50% of all waste to landfill in Australia?

Australian landfill levies are on the move, with significant changes in Queensland and South Australia. The trouble with waste disposal, however, is that it tends to flow to the point of cheapest disposal. Just like water, waste flows downhill to the lowest point.

By MRA Consulting Group The Queensland government has just opened the one-off $5m 2018/19 Local Government Levy Ready Grants Program. The grant program is being administered by the department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs on behalf of the Department of Environment and Science and aims to assist Queensland councils in setting up the […]

Mike Ritchie talked to ABC’s Sarina Locke about the effect of QLD waste levy cancellation on NSW waste. The full article titled “Sydney Markets sends rotting fruit and vegetables to generate electricity in war on waste” is available on the ABC website and below. Sydney Markets declared its own war on waste 12 years ago […]

By Mike Ritchie Landfill gate fees typically cover costs of operation, overheads, mobile plant and equipment, labour, depreciation costs of roads and buildings and other fixed assets and profit. But the costs (and therefore the gate fee), also need to include 30-50 year post closure management, long term monitoring and reporting, and importantly replacement of […]

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 – […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]