A study conducted in 2019 by CSIRO and Sustainability Victoria showed that 75 per cent of survey participants believe that landfill is the worst option for managing waste, yet 36 per cent wouldn’t live near a waste complex and 27 per cent wouldn’t live near an energy from waste (EfW) facility.
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Dozens of councils and businesses were hit with the realisation that the recycled content they were responsible for could no longer be sent to SKM Recycling facilities after the company went into receivership in August.
Amid a waste crisis, in which Australians have seen their recycling end up in landfill, recycling facilities such as SKM in Victoria have closed, and waste has been sent back to Australia from various Southeast Asian countries, all levels of government are searching for immediate and long-term solutions.
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Germany has long been a leader in waste avoidance and resource recovery (WARR) with its comprehensive recycling infrastructure and scarce landfill operations.
The Queensland government has reintroduced a waste levy after half a decade of not having one, but “only time will tell what the shake out is”, Waste, Recycling Industry Association of Queensland (WRIQ) CEO, Rick Ralph, said in response to the levy coming into effect on July 1.
Malaysia has ramped up joint inspection and enforcement activities at recycling factories in light of what Malaysia’s environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin, reported as tonnes of contaminated waste arriving from countries such as Australia.
This story was contributed by Mike Ritchie – the director of MRA Consulting Group.
The Australian Commonwealth has achieved a first – a Minister for Waste (and Environmental Management) was announced by the Morrison government.
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This story was contributed by Pete Shmigel – the CEO of the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR).
Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environment Management, Trevor Evans, speaks to Inside Waste about the Federal government’s role in the future of Australia’s waste industry.
Australia’s first waste minister vows to improve the waste sector by holding companies in the industry to account, while also improving Federal leadership with support and funding to programs such as a national battery stewardship scheme.
Public awareness of the benefits of EfW facilities is too low in Australia, according to CSIRO’s Daniel Roberts.