A proposed Kaipara-based $730 million waste to energy incinerator to burn Auckland’s rubbish and produce electricity could be operational by 2028 By Susan Botting, Local Democracy Reporter Northland “We’re at an exciting point where all the parts are coming together,” Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said of the plant – which will also incinerate Northland rubbish. Continue →

VP Head of Global Sales and Marketing at TOMRA, Fabrizio Radice talks to Waste Management World about how deep learning is transforming the waste sorting and recycling processes, the economic and environmental benefits of smart waste management solutions and how it will shape the industry 1) Can you provide an overview of how smart solutions are transforming waste sorting and recycling processes compared to traditional methods? Continue →

Gasification is the most widespread alternative to conventional waste incineration, however it has not yet been implemented on a large scale, with the one major exception of Japan The objections to gasification have not changed since the technology was invented: too expensive, too maintenance-intensive, not efficient enough in comparison with conventional incineration. Continue →

Changes as part of the waste levy expansion programme are an important part of reducing the amount of rubbish ending up in landfill, the Ministry for the Environment says The waste levy expansion programme introduced last year will help support New Zealand’s efforts to transition to a low-carbon economy where waste is minimal. Continue →

Polystyrene’s typically high level of contamination makes it hard to recycle, but recycling companies around the world are proving it can be done with new innovations, Waste Management World reports Plastics are one of the biggest challenges for the waste management industry. Continue →

Construction and demolition waste poses a special challenge for recyclers – it comprises a lot of different tough materials and it is difficult to separate pollutants, Waste Management World reports. Continue →

Aluminium plays an important protective role in food packaging, however it requires a lot of energy to produce and it can be difficult to recycle The crucial discovery has been made by Jiaying Li, who is working with the Dutch Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC), in collaboration with the University of Twente, Wageningen University, BASF and AkzoNobel. Continue →

As China faces rapidly mounting volumes of waste, it intends to have digitally monitored intelligent waste collection sites bring about an increase in the currently low recycling rate For a good 20 years, China has tried to increase its recycling rate, with only modest success so far. Continue →

SUEZ NWS, Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation Motor Co., Continue →

The beeswax-melting digestive system of a pest caterpillar could hold the secret to solving plastic pollution Eric Betz – Discover Each year, humanity churns out some 300 million tons of plastic and ships it around the world before dropping it into landfills. Continue →

Robots are performing complex quality control tasks at waste management facilities that are usually done by humans, with surprising results This article first appeared on Business Insider Only a small fraction of the garbage the world produces each year gets recycled – about 16% – and that number has gotten even smaller in the past year. Continue →

With its 2016 acquisition of plastics recycler mtm plastics, Borealis, an Austrian chemicals and plastics group, took a big step towards a circular business model. Continue →

A self-contained onsite farm waste solution, which uses a combination of biogas from anaerobic digestion and solar power, has been launched by Bioplex and Controllis, a global supplier of DC generator technology and hybrid energy power solutions Bioplex is a UK based AD technology firm which has uses a pre-digester for the processing of farm and horse stable manures, claim that the hybrid system could not only reduce or eliminate electricity costs but even provide profits. Continue →

Ditch the “Fire-Ready-Aim” mentality and find a unified voice for Energy from Waste   In a recent report, The Role of Energy from Waste in a Circular Economy: Creating a stable project structure, the Australian Industrial Ecology Network (AIEN) says that the implementation of Energy from Waste (EfW) in Australia should be streamlined in accordance with a nationally developed policy framework. Continue →

Food left out to fester is a known target for flies, bugs and creepy crawlies, but their insatiable appetite for waste food is actually now being harnessed as a solution for the greater good Tom Freyburg – Waste Management World The idea of eating bugs might be the stuff of nightmares for the squeamish with sensitive palates, but it’s becoming a big business. Continue →

Lower energy costs, a reduced fossil fuel environmental footprint and cleaner wastewater effluent are just some of the benefits NH Foods Australia are seeing at their Oakey Beef Exports facility from the technology involved in the far-sighted green energy initiative The Global Water & Energy (GWE) COHRAL™ (Covered High-Rate Anerobic Lagoon) plant involved was installed at Oakey by Australian environmental engineering and green energy authority CST Wastewater Solutions, which recently inspected the plant as it reaches its landmark fifth year of service in southern Queensland. Continue →

Leader in waste management is running an environmental initiative that eliminates landfill dumping of commercial and retail food waste by transforming it into valuable green energy and fertiliser JJ Richards & Sons’ (JJR) custom-engineered waste reception centre in Sydney has the potential to become a model for national use both in New Zealand and Australia. Continue →

A short documentary feature from 60 Minutes Australia highlights the problems being caused by our reliance on exporting materials from ‘recycling’ collections   According to the broadcaster, there is no doubt Australia is one of the most wasteful nations in the world, so the practice of recycling helps to lessen its guilt. Continue →