Environment
Government’s plastics plan is shiny but flimsy
Mon 2 March 2020Since the May election the waste recovery and recycling industry has suffered further blows with the closure of facilities in NSW and Victoria, and the impact of fires on infrastructure in Victoria and WA. In what is becoming a pattern for this government, Scott Morrison’s earnest speech about the scourge of ocean plastic slid over […]
Read more...Clean Up Australia Day
Sun 1 March 2020Today, I will be cleaning up at Bardon Park in Maylands on the Swan River foreshore. And while today and every day we can and should all play a part in reducing waste, the greatest scope for change is through national leadership – which is sadly missing from a Morrison Government that continues to offer […]
Read more...States take lead on container deposit scheme
Tue 25 February 2020Federal Labor congratulates the Andrews Labor Government on its decision to introduce a container deposit scheme in Victoria. This announcement means that by 2023 all states and territories in Australia will have implemented a scheme of this kind. Across the country, State and Territory Governments are tackling the growing waste crisis – with investment in […]
Read more...Recycling plant closure shows severity of waste crisis
Thu 13 February 2020We already know that plastic is being stockpiled around the country, which presents a fire risk – as we’ve seen in Western Australia – and in some cases it’s being sent to landfill. The closure of the second largest recycling facility in Sydney shows that market conditions are getting worse and our existing system is getting weaker […]
Read more...New plan needed for environment
Wed 5 February 2020Australia’s most endangered marsupial, Gilbert’s potoroo, was almost burnt to extinction in the fire at Two People’s Bay near Albany in 2015. The species was saved by the courageous firefighting and animal rescue efforts on the day. Since that time the painstaking work of local rangers and the valiant Gilbert’s Potoroo Action Group has stabilised […]
Read more...New report punches holes in Morrison’s so-called waste plan
Mon 27 January 2020Global recycling market analysis prepared by consulting firm Sustainable Resource Use has warned the Federal Government that Australia may need to increase local recycling processing capability by 400%. This comes at a time when the scale of plastic recycling in Australia is lower now than it was in 2005, and around the country plastic is […]
Read more...Product Stewardship Review: 1000 days and counting
Wed 18 December 2019Following confirmation that the Morrison Government’s cornerstone waste project – the National Recycling Investment Fund – was only established this week, we can now add the woefully late review of the Product Stewardship Act to the pile of dormant waste promises made by the Liberals. Announced by then environment Minister Josh Frydenburg on 10 March […]
Read more...Morrison’s “Recycling Investment Fund” is wasting away
Thu 5 December 2019In response to Labor’s questions on notice in Senate Estimates, the CEFC advised that: No projects have been financed to date under this Fund, as it does not yet exist. Since the Government announced the Recycling Investment Fund on 3 May, no direction has been given by the responsible Ministers authorising the CEFC to establish the fund that is […]
Read more...Jobs will go offshore if PM fails to support innovation to fix waste crisis
Thu 21 November 2019Developed by Dr Len Humphreys and a counterpart from Sydney University, Professor Thomas Maschmeyer, the technology converts plastic back into source materials, including oil. This is a remarkable and promising breakthrough that illustrates the great potential in Australian scientific research and innovation. It should be the basis of better recycling outcomes, a cleaner environment, and […]
Read more...Morrison fails his own test on plastics export ban after talking big at UN
Mon 11 November 2019Friday’s Meeting of Environment Ministers communique stated that a plastics export ban will not commence until 2021, with a ban on other materials to wait until 2022, years later than anticipated. Serious doubts also exist in industry as to whether this can be delivered without significant financial support from the Commonwealth. Two-thirds of the government’s so-called recycling investment plan […]
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