Recycling

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.

It always surprises me when governments announce waste/recycling policies which bear little resemblance to what is actually needed. But I blame myself.

“We can achieve a Circular Economy by 2025” was the proposition in a debate run by the Young Professionals of WMRR. I chaired the “No” side. “No chance” we said (and won).

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.

Why does it seem to require expert knowledge of the waste management sector to understand the yellow kerbside recycling bin? Why is that even if you are a waste expert, you can never be sure what can go into a specific council’s recycling bin without first looking it up?

The NSW Government has created a $10 million fund to reduce landfilling of solar panels and battery systems. Phase 1 of the Circular Solar grants program (trial phase) awarded $1.1 million in funding for eligible trial projects.

Our current economic model is pretty much a linear one: take (extract) - make (stuff) - waste (landfill). It treats resources as infinite and assumes the environment can absorb the waste. It is therefore unsustainable in the long run.

People often ask “Is MRA doing any Circular Economy work?”. The answer is “Plenty”.

Which comes first, composting capacity or the commitment by Council to supply FOGO material?

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?