New national waste targets, including the phasing out of “problematic and unnecessary” single-use plastic packaging sound right on cue with the current mood among voters and consumer. But key industry players and some state government leaders wondering who will foot the bill? 

Food packaging remains a sticking point for the circular economy. Plastic is so entrenched in the food production cycle that avoiding it when sourcing groceries and takeaway food is almost impossible.

Maybe it’s more a quiet revolution, rather than a war, moving through the industry as the property titans take up the issue of waste.

The debacle over the removal of single-use plastic bags from supermarkets has been analysed from a range of different perspectives

The move to rid cafes of plastics in takeaway coffee cups is gathering steam with innovative business jumping in with alternative solutions and competition between the major cities heating up. Landlords are taking note.

The Victorian government will use its own purchasing power to drive demand for recycled products as part of a $37 million package announced by energy, environment and climate change minister Lily D’Ambrosio on Tuesday.

With waste currently top of mind across the country, building owners GPT and Frasers have wasted no time securing a rating under the new NABERS Waste tool, launched last month.

A tax on “virgin” plastics, paper and metals has been proposed in the City of Melbourne’s Current Recycling Challenges discussion paper released today.

A senate report into Australia’s waste and recycling industry has recommended the country ban single-use plastics within five years, including not just bags but potentially plastic-lined coffee cups, containers, chip packets and microbeads.

The next big frontier in waste is reducing the production and consumption of rubbish in the first place, says Clean Up Australia chief executive Terrie-Ann Johnson.

Riding on the momentum of Australia’s anti-waste movement, IKEA is now letting its Sydney customers return their unwanted furniture and goods to the Tempe store in exchange for a voucher to spend in-store.

More than 21,000 tonnes of the waste hitting Sydney streets each year is set to be turned into sellable products, following the opening of a new detritus facility in Sydney’s Western Suburbs. 

The Netherlands is famous for having one of the highest rates of recycling of all material “waste” at 79 per cent in Europe.

Phasing out unsustainable packaging and using government purchasing power to increase market share of products containing recycled content are among initiatives agreed at last Friday’s meeting of environment ministers.

With Victoria set to ban landfilling of e-waste from 1 July 2019, a home-grown recycler is set to benefit from the growing quantity of lithium batteries reaching end of life.