The federal government has launched its Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy, which will be phased in from July and initially see companies bidding for government construction services contracts needing to meet agreed sustainability outcomes, including products with recycled content. In an announcement from environment minister Tanya Plibersek (pictured on right) on Wednesday, two phases of the…
The Battery Stewardship Council (BSC) has announced a review of B-cycle, Australia’s government authorised battery recycling scheme, in the wake of unforeseen pressures facing industry. The review has been brought forward from 2025 by the BSC Board as, while B-cycle is meeting many of its goals, the current national economic conditions are creating pressures for…
Around 9,600 tonnes of material will be diverted from landfill every year thanks to the federal and Victorian governments investing $3.4 million for six new recycling projects in Melbourne and Ballarat through the Recycling Modernisation Fund. The new and upgraded facilities will employ 38 additional staff and will sort, process and recycle used plastics and…
The 1,500 megawatt Yanco Delta Wind Farm project has been approved and will be one of the country’s largest clean energy projects, the federal government has announced. The project is 10 kilometres north-west of Jerilderie on a 33,000-hectare site in the Murrumbidgee and Edward River Local Government Area. The wind farm in the state’s South…
One of Australia’s biggest paper recycling facilities will be built in South East Queensland with plans to turn 220,000 tonnes of waste paper and cardboard into pulp annually for export. The federal and Queensland governments have partnered with Brisbane-based national company AusWaste Recycling to build a $137 million waste paper recycling facility at Brendale. The…
Applications opened on Tuesday morning for the Plastics Technology stream of the federal Recycling Modernisation Fund, offering grant funding of between $1 million and $20 million each to projects concerned with hard-to-recycle plastics. According to a statement from federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek, up to $60 million in total would support projects including: advanced recycling…
A proposed national framework aimed at improving trust in recycled materials has moved forward with the release of a new discussion paper. The country’s environment ministers met last month and agreed to progress an initiative on recycled content traceability. According to a statement from federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek on Tuesday, this would allow users…
Environment ministers led by federal Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek have stepped in to force mandatory action to reduce and recycle packaging in a strong rebuke for the pace of adopting recycling by the packaging industry. The ministers threatened to take similar mandatory rules to the textile and clothing sector if it…
