Policy

Australia’s largest solar panel recycler, has entered administration. A mandatory product stewardship scheme could have prevented that.

To turn ambitious recycling targets into lasting circular economy results, Australia’s recycling success should depend more on regulation and government leadership and less on consumers and corporate goodwill.

MRA has turned 15. A big thank you to all of our clients, friends and colleagues for supporting MRA over these years. We couldn't have done it without you. To mark the occasion, Mike Ritchie looks back on the key points of waste reform, highlighting our successes and identifying key targets for the future.

The burning issue isn’t how much plastic we make or use – it’s how much escapes into the environment. Global efforts such as the UN Plastics Treaty should prioritise building and funding effective containment systems to stop plastic leaking into nature. Actions to reduce plastic production should follow suit.

As countries work toward their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, the European Union (EU) and Australia have taken different approaches to tackling methane emissions in the waste sector. Mike and Ilan explain.

Waste contracts are generally the most valuable contracts that a Council signs. Mike Ritchie explains how to get them right.

Almost two years on from a landmark pledge by state and federal environment ministers to take decisive action on packaging waste, Australia is still waiting for meaningful reform.

Single use plastic makes our modern lives easier and often safer. But all too often, it becomes litter.

Waste in Australia (total generation and per capita) continues to grow, driving up GHG emissions and exhausting landfill space. To decouple waste generation from economic growth, Circular Economy is the key.

A three degrees increase in global temperature will have unprecedented impact on our planet, way of life and the very system our societies have been built upon.

Packaging recycling in Australia has some way to go. Both in terms of meeting the national 2025 Waste Targets and in terms of reducing the use of dangerous chemicals and composite materials that pollute and hinder recycling. Government intervention was supposed to help. This has not happened yet.

NSW has some way to go to hit the 2030 National Waste Targets. To do so, it needs a lot of new waste infrastructure. Mike Ritchie takes a look at the types and number of facilities needed.