Waste

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 – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group Clients regularly ask MRA why they need a waste licence for an activity which on the face of it might not look like waste processing. Recent Land and Environment Court (LEC) and Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) decisions have clarified the meaning of “waste” in NSW […]

By Mike Ritchie – Director, MRA Consulting Group Plastic pollution of waterways and oceans is a real problem. We need to fix it. Plastic was only invented 100 years ago and now is ubiquitous in our economies and lifestyles. It is also ubiquitous in our pollution. From microbeads to plastic bottles and fish nets plastic […]

By Mike Ritchie – Director, MRA Consulting Group On 16 February 2016, the Australian population reached 24 million people. Waste generation rates are a function of population growth, the level of urbanisation and per capita income[i] and Australians now produce about 50 million tonnes of waste each year, averaging over 2 tonnes per person. There […]

Inside Waste (April 2013) published an article by MRA on Weight Based Charging (WBC) titled ‘Wake the Sleeping Giant on C&I’. It argued Weight Based Charging for commercial waste, would likely assist in achieving Australia’s C&I resource recovery targets. WBC provides waste generators with a direct price signal, equating waste generation to costs. At present […]

WMAA is hosting a Breakfast Seminar on Monday, 25 May on weight based charging opportunities and issues in the commercial sector. The issue of weight based charging (WBC) is on the agenda. Commercial waste bin collection is currently a volume based charging system and not weight based. How would a WBC system impact the waste […]

Australia generates 48 MT/year of waste (latest National Waste Data Report 2014). In the period 1997-2012 our population rose by 22% but waste generation increased by 145%. There are more of us and we generate more waste per person, each year. On the positive side, recycling is growing at a faster rate and since 2005 […]

The first round of Waste Less Recycle More infrastructure grants came to a close in early March, with consultants and applicants alike breathing a sigh of relief as schedules, cost benefit analyses and application forms were submitted to the Environmental Trust for appraisal. The opportunities promised by the WLRM package are immense. Traditional waste service […]

Victoria’s Metropolitan Waste Management Group (MWMG) has a new name to reflect its expanded role as part of an amendment to the Environment Protection Act, which also led to the amalgamation of regional waste groups. The amendment, effective from August 1, means that the group’s role will now cover all waste streams, adding commercial and […]

At the time of writing the Government’s CPM termination bills have passed the House of Reps and are progressing to the Senate. They will most probably see the fixed carbon price repealed and replaced by Direct Action and the Emission Reduction Fund (ERF). The ERF provides the funding and the methodologies to project proponents to […]

Where are we today, and what will be game changing in resource recovery? First, the facts. Australia generates 48 MT/year of waste (latest National Waste Data Report 2014). Despite steady increases in the rate of recovery (average 52%), the waste generated between 2002 and 2009 grew by 40%, while population increased by only 10% (SoE […]

The Australian waste industry is a rapidly changing space, with surging waste volumes and new government policies creating both opportunities and challenges. Improving the efficiency of collection, transport and recovery of waste and recyclables is critical to maximising resource recovery, a critical factor in the environmental footprint of our economy. But waste generation has been […]