Waste and Resource Recovery

Projections show Australia is very unlikely to meet its current 2030 carbon reduction targets, with recent reports of increasing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from all sectors other than the electricity and agriculture industries. Australia needs to do more and the waste and recycling sector can lead the charge in emissions reduction.

The recently awarded WLRM grants wrap up a spectacular year for MRA's grants team. Over the four funding streams MRA helped our clients win over $11 million in grants for FOGO and infrastructure projects.

MRA’s planning team is glowing this Christmas with two development approvals granted in the last two weeks. Both approvals are for resource recovery facilities helping keep valuable materials out of landfill.

MRA’s Mike Ritchie was featured on the cover of Waste Management Review having been interviewed on the waste sector’s contribution to national emissions and its role in meeting Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Mike Ritchie will present on "Removal of food and organics from waste to landfill – prospects and issues" at ASBG's Queensland seminar in Lidcombe on 12 April 2019. Read on for the full program and to learn how to get the MRA client discount.

It has now been over a year since China introduced its National Sword policy to restrict the importation of kerbside recyclable materials from the rest of the world. The purpose of the policy was to increase the recovery of domestically generated recyclables within China and further boost its own manufacturing. The new rule is a 0.5% contamination rate in Australian exported material. Few Australian Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) were built for that level of purity.

According to an ABC report on the 8th of August, the Queensland Premier was “horrified” to hear of the extent of dumping of waste from NSW in Queensland. The Queensland government was “not aware … until it was highlighted on the Four Corners program…”

by MRA Consulting Group As the NSW EPA’s WLRM extension has been announced, many grant packages are winding down, however there are still a few grant streams that are open: Resource Recovery Facility Expansion and Enhancement ($13.9million awarded to date); Organics Market Development – Stream 1: Product Quality ($189,000 awarded to date); and Community Litter […]

By Dimitris Dimoliatis, MRA Consulting Group Late last week, Mark Speakman the NSW Minister for the Environment announced the extension of the Waste Less Recycle More (WLRM) initiative to 2021. This second round of funding is the continuation of phase one of the WLRM that begun in July 2013 and will conclude in June 2017. […]

By Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group The circular economy matters… We are hearing more and more of the circular economy, an approach to resources that keeps materials away from waste, and brings them back into the productive economy. It rejects the status quo “take-make-dispose” linear economy in favour of cycling biological and […]

By Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group The idea of waste as a resource is not a new one. It’s an idea that has been around for years, decades even, but it’s an idea that has struggled to get onto the mainstream agenda. Putting materials out for recycling is well accepted; reincorporating those […]

The rollout of new food and garden (FOGO) waste collection systems is stressful for many councils. MyWaste shows it does not need to be. For many residents, wheeling out and collecting their bins each week represents their most significant interaction with Council. This is a learned behaviour established over many years. Subsequently, changes to collection […]