Infrastructure

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

There has been much said recently about the need to use nuclear energy as a bridging technology while renewable technologies and battery systems in particular, are improved. It seems to me that waste and recycling have again been overlooked as serious contributors to Australia’s emission abatement task. In 2006 Warnken ISE and SITA Australia published […]

Community engagement and the waste hierarchy were the running themes of the 2014 Energy from Waste Symposium held in Lorne, Victoria last week. According to NSW EPA director waste and resource recovery strategy Steve Beaman, those who attended the Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) event were already energy-from-waste “evangelists” who agreed with the direction […]

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, […]