Waste

The 2022 Coffs Waste Conference has come and gone and with everyone back at the office, we managed to have a quick debrief. What everyone agreed on was that it was great to physically be back in a room with all our peers.

I am glad that Local Government has levers that can reduce emissions and slow climate change.

Would the maniac who designed the first plastic fruit sticker please stand up!

The release of the Circular Economy Strategy 2022-2027 demonstrates the NT Government’s eagerness to use circular economy (CE) to drive the NT economy and jobs.

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.

The COP26 climate change summit took place between 31 October and 13 November 2021 in Glasgow. The reason we needed this summit is that we are very efficient at pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere but singularly useless at getting it back out again.

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 COP26 climate change summit took place between 31 October and 13 November 2021 in Glasgow. The reason we needed this summit is that we are very efficient at pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere but singularly useless at getting it back out again.

For more than ten years, MRA has been arguing for an “Organics Revolution” in Australia to remove organics from landfill.

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.

The waste industry has what the carbon sector doesn't – a target widely viewed as ambitious, as well as a substantial price to spur waste abatement – and that has prompted a huge increase in investor interest, says MRA Consulting Group.