Melbourne is one Australian city that’s moving to improve its waste management and reduce its reliance on trucks to collect waste.
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Cities around the world are struggling to manage their mountains of waste. We can use the Internet of Things for smart waste systems that collect, sort, reuse and recycle most of what is thrown out.
Building construction and demolition create enormous amounts of waste and much of it goes into landfill.
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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.
On March 7, 2019, demonstrators gathered outside the National Assembly in Paris. The sign above reads “Deputies, please save the climate”. The one in front reads “Fossilise the future?”
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By enacting a legislative framework to achieve carbon neutrality, France and the United Kingdom are making a difference in the fight against climate change.
About two-thirds of Australia’s strawberries are grown on the fringes of Melbourne and Brisbane.
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City fringe foodbowls supply much of our fresh produce and can increase climate resilience by making better use of wastewater and organic waste. A new roadmap outlines how to protect these foodbowls.
Since China stopped importing ‘foreign garbage’ in March 2018, scrap – especially plastic – has built up in the US. Will this shock trigger long-overdue investments in plastic recycling here?
Sea turtle eating a plastic bag.
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Plastic bags are commonly mistaken for food by sea animals. They require a lot of energy and resources to be made, and have caused floods in some countries.
Globally consumers are increasingly taking charge of their own drinking water supply.
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Both short- and long-term solutions are needed to solve Australia’s recycling crisis. State and federal ministers are pursuing some promising avenues, but they need to cast the net much wider.
These are already 100% recyclable - the trick is to actually recycle them.
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Under a new target, 100% of Australian packaging will be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025. But this is not enough - we also need to ensure that recyclable materials are actually recycled.
China new cleanliness standards for the recyclable materials it imports are so stringent that they are tantamount to a total ban. Australian councils are now in crisis mode as the rubbish piles up.
Victoria’s proposed ban on single-use plastic bags is a step forward, but what about all the other unnecessary packaging? A truly effective waste policy should offer a comprehensive plan for packaging.
Trash washed up on Bali’s Kuta beach on February 2016.
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The Victorian government is auditing every recycling facility in the state after a disastrous fire at Coolaroo. It raises a bigger issue: we don’t know how many plants Australia has or where they are.