Opinion

AI: evil or avatar?
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

AI: evil or avatar?

In the epic science fiction film, writer and director James Cameron envisioned a new world inhabited by an alien species known as the Na’vi, who lived in perfect harmony with their deity, Ewya, on an exoplanetary moon known as Pandora. All was well ‒ a perfect display of symbiosis between nature and its inhabitants ‒ …
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Waste to energy in Denmark
 Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

Waste to energy in Denmark

Denmark, with its population of about 5.7 million, produces some 15 million tonnes of wastes of all sorts from industry, households, institutions and businesses. Of this, about 3.6 million tonnes is non-recyclable but combustible, and is used as fuel for about 26 waste to energy plants (the number in 2015), with most of these being …
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China's 'National Sword' strikes recycling blow?
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

China’s ‘National Sword’ strikes recycling blow?

For Australia, a reasonable proportion of the recovered paper and plastic (ABS estimated 40% and 50% respectively in 2011) is exported. China is our main export market for recovered materials with ABS stats showing 76% of paper and 88% of plastic exported goes directly or via Hong Kong to China. Australia is undergoing a renaissance …
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Plastic Pollution - another cost on business
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

Plastic Pollution – another cost on business

When the United Nations Environment Program describes it as “alarming” and the G20 group of nations recognises “the urgent need for action to prevent and reduce marine litter in order to preserve human health and marine and coastal ecosystems, and mitigate marine litter’s economic costs and impacts”, then some pretty tough action is going to …
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Revisiting the issue of interstate waste movement
 Australia, Features, New South Wales, Online Subscription, Opinion, Queensland

Revisiting the issue of interstate waste movement

The issue has now hit the political headlines. It was framed by 4 Corners as a matter of criminal behaviour, which it isn’t. Queensland has committed to reducing it through increased inspection of interstate trucks. But it is legal. Inspecting truck certificates addresses a symptom only. To be clear, trucking waste between the states is not illegal. It …
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The alternative to incineration
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

The alternative to incineration

Given the depleted condition of Australia’s agricultural soils, burning compostable resources that can provide much needed carbon and nutrients is a terrible waste. Around 70% of the resources in our waste streams is organic material which can be turned into high-quality compost and returned to our soils. Australia has more than 450 million hectares of …
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The alternative to incineration
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

Future Focus: Electric vehicles for Australia

A global review in Nature in May 2017 revealed that Australia lags behind most developed nations for low emission standards for light and heavy vehicles. This means that we have worse air pollution per car and truck on Australian roads than comparable economies around the world. This is not aided by the fact that our …
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Future Focus: Reset the dial on landfill food and organic 'waste'
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

Future Focus: Reset the dial on landfill food and organic ‘waste’

But it prompts the questions – what should be done, and why do we continue to allow nutritious food to go to landfill? Why do we send policy and landfill price signals that fail to reflect the true cost of food in landfill? It should be far more expensive to send food to landfill than building rubble, …
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Don't waste your energy asking the wrong question
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

Don’t waste your energy asking the wrong question

Discussion in the media about who is at fault for increased energy prices abounds. Like other commentators, I put the blame on the policy makers from all political parties at both state and federal level. It’s this policy dysfunction that’s causing the over-shoot in pricing we are experiencing. The subject was, is, and will always …
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Looming data avalanche poses big challenges for environmental agencies
 Features, Online Subscription, Opinion

Looming data avalanche poses big challenges for environmental agencies

However, while the amount of data collected by the monitoring stations is significant, it pales in comparison to what is coming. Evolving networks of air sensors current being deployed across the globe will cause a data avalanche that could overwhelm those trying to make sense of it. The challenge is being caused by rapid improvements …
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