An inconclusive COAG meeting comes after years of inquiries, announcements, initiatives, investigations and reviews. Australia is no closer to actually tackling our waste problems.
Endless growth is not a sustainable option for fast-growing Australian cities like Melbourne.
Nils Versemann/Shutterstock
The demands on land and resources from our fast-growing cities are unsustainable, as are the wastes they produce. Yet still our leaders act as if unlimited growth is possible.
Nairobi River flows through a low-income settlement.
Tatsiana Hendzel/Shutterstock
Australia’s recycling woes belong to everyone, from households to government to business. It’s time to stop pointing fingers and get to work on a solution.
China has put the onus back on Australia to take responsibility for our waste, and Germany has shown us the way with extended producer responsibility for construction and demolition waste.
Abandoned tents after a festival: definitely not going to charity.
lionheartphotography
Recycling is a messy system at the moment. Here’s how we can clean up our act.
Plastic waste from Australia in Port Klang, Malaysia. Malaysia says it will send back some 3,300 tons of nonrecyclable plastic waste to countries including the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia.
AP Photo/Vincent Thian
A year after China stopped accepting most scrap material exports, other Asian countries are following Beijing’s lead, forcing wealthy nations to find domestic solutions for managing their wastes.
A woman collects plastic bags bound for recycling in Yopougon, a suburb of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
EPA/LEGNAN KOULA