Industry News
Australians slash plastic bag use by 1.34 billion bags
New figures released in a Planet Ark report commissioned by the Australian government have revealed that Australians have cut their plastic bag habit by 1.34 billion bags a year. However, they are still using 5.58 billion plastic checkout bags a year.
[ + ]WEEE man and recycling banks two great UK ideas
A seven-metre tall figure composed of three tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been installed at South Bank, London.
[ + ]National cigarette butt anti-littering campaign
The first national 'Butt Free City - Please Butt It, Then Bin It' campaign is asking smokers to help reduce the seven billion littered butts that hit Australian footpaths, gutters and waterways every year.
[ + ]Protecting ports from toxic chemicals
Syft Technologies, producer of advanced SIFT-MS analytical solutions for large-scale identification and analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), has signed a significant export order with Australian Customs Services (Customs) to supply five Voice100 instruments to ports in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth. The order is worth in excess of NZ$2m and is to be delivered by June 2005.
[ + ]New name reflects greener, keener business image
In a move that reflects its positioning in the brave new no-waste world of sustainable resource management, Waste Service NSW has changed its name to WSN Environmental Solutions.
[ + ]ACCC gives councils green light on collective tendering
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has allowed a group of Sydney councils to collectively tender and contract for the provision of waste manage-ment services.
[ + ]ANSTO reports on its corporate social responsibility
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is one of the first Australian government agencies to publish a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report.
[ + ]Evolutionary change for a revolutionary product
Over the next few years, industry is likely to see some evolutionary changes to the biodegradable plastic based on corn starch developed by Plantic Technologies.
[ + ]'Buy Recycled' research report
Research on stakeholder perceptions com-missioned by the Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA) has found that 74% or 17 of the 24 members surveyed have an environ-mental committee for buying products that contain recycled materials.
[ + ]And the winner is...
The winner of our first draw of the 6 GB, 1500 song iPod Mini is Ann Perkins of Roche Mining in Queensland. Congratulations Ann.
[ + ]Water quality research centre for WA
Curtin University of Technology and the Western Australian Water Corporation have combined to establish a water research centre at the university.
[ + ]Sims and Collex join forces to recycle e-Waste
Recycling company Sims Group Limited and environment services company Collex Pty Ltd chose Clean Up Australia Day in March to launch Australia's first comprehensive computer and electronics recycling business.
[ + ]Human health bottom line of sustainability
The health of human populations is a truer bottom line of sustainability than the much-vaunted 'triple bottom line' approach, according to epidemiologist Tony McMichael who directs the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University (ANU).
[ + ]Plastic from plants
Plantic Technologies and Visy Industries have entered an agreement to develop and commercialise new technology based on Plantic 'plastic from plants'.
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