Opinion

Organics mandate
 Compost, FOGO, FOGO, Opinion

Unlocking $81 million for councils to lead organics recovery

By: Ilan Levy Nadelsticher
The New South Wales (NSW) Government is taking a big step toward a circular economy. A new mandate regarding organics requires all Councils to offer a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) service by 2030. Businesses (supermarkets, cafes, universities, and hospitals etc), are required to have a food waste collection service, with a staged implementation beginning in 2026. This move is meant to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, particularly in Greater Sydney, where landfill space is expected to run out by 2030. The goal is to either turn food and garden waste into useful compost for farms, parks, and sports fields through composting, or generate electricity via anaerobic digestion (AD). Read More
PFAS
 Opinion

Wasted Space: How bad is bad

Hi Sir, One of my little bugbears has been keeping me awake at night: forever chemicals – PFAS. At first, I thought it might be a case of them being ‘the next asbestos’. This range of undesirable chemicals seems to be everywhere at the moment – in the water, on the ground, in clothing, furniture – just everywhere. And they might be the next asbestos – i.e. something that is repellent to our species. But how dangerous is it? The thing is, we don’t really know. It could be really dangerous. It might be slightly dangerous. It might not be dangerous at all. A recent draft drinking water guideline from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) located here in this Great Southern Land has now decided the amount of PFOS (a particularly prevalent and concerning forever chemical) allowed in such water should be 20 times lower than current guidelines. Read More
Veolia
 Opinion

Veolia fined $30k over licence breach

Veolia Environmental Services (Australia) Pty Ltd has been issued a fine of $30,000 by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) for breaching a condition of its Environment Protection Licence relating to the storage of leachate at the Woodlawn Landfill near Goulburn. Read More