As much as 95 per cent of food waste in South Korea is now recycled thanks to government legislation that charges citizens for the amount they throw out. Is this the sort of innovative policy we should be considering in Australia?

Queensland’s overhaul of its waste management is not overlooking the vast potential for jobs creation and economic growth in its plans.

A hotel in Sydney’s inner-city suburb Surry Hills has managed to eradicate its waste footprint altogether, diverting 53,000 tonnes of food waste each year and saving $30,240 on waste collection fees annually.

Imagine a technology that could soon make Timor-Leste the first plastic neutral economy in the world.

Better Building Partnership Sustainable Destination Partnership and CitySwitch and their allies packed into the Marconi Room at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday morning to launch a new program to reduce single use plastics in the city’s destinations hot spots, organised by the City of Sydney.

Many Australians might agree: there’s certainly a lot of rubbish in this Federal election.

The construction industry’s canary in the mineshaft is its most visible flaw – waste. David Chandler suggests that a galvanising call to reduce its embedded carbon would modernise and lift its game.

Smart city technologies and the Internet of Things may have a downside that policy and processes are yet to address – the potential to add to growing volumes of ewaste.

Between 2017 and 2018, Queensland reported a 37 per cent increase in the amount of waste shipped in from interstate. This brought its annual reported waste to 10.9 million tonnes, a level it’s now looking to reduce with a new waste management and resource recovery strategy. 

What do we do with all that ewaste piling up in our closets and other dark and forgotten spaces? Luckily growing demand for a solution is once again throwing up creative ideas, such as IoT sensors made out of recyclable materials.

Australia is on the road to a more sustainable heavy construction materials industry, with the Victorian government handing out grants worth over $1.5 million this year for innovative road surface projects.

In February last year China stopped importing many recyclables from overseas. It left Australia without an export market for its waste – as much as 1.25 million tonnes of material.

Benjamin Young’s business producing reusable coffee cups is staggering: it’s grown 600 per cent last year and the signs are still good for growth and innovation, with new products such as reusable shopping bags and straws on the way.

The Balinese government has outlawed single use plastics in the wake of a rising rubbish problem. Governor I Wayan Koster announced the ban last month, stating there would be serious penalties for noncompliance following a six month grace period. 

One investor in the Northern Territory has faith that the recycling industry can change in his patch. In fact he’s just invested $3.5 million in a new facility. Growing pains…