January 2018

CDEnviro expands team in Australia

Waste and recycling systems provider CDEnviro is expanding its team in Australia with the relocation of Ryan O’Loan, Business Development Executive.

Ryan was based in the UK but will move to Melbourne to strengthen the organisation’s existing business development team in Australia.

Ryan will develop market opportunities and provide support for new CDEnviro customers across Australia.

He has worked for CDEnviro for three years and prior to that was Project Engineer for a major food processing company in the UK. CDEnviro noted his experience in the landfill diversion and environmental remediation sectors of the company will be a particular asset to the Australian market.

“Ryan’s relocation to Australia forms part of our business expansion strategy for this region. It’s a market that is growing at a fast pace, and Ryan’s expertise will be of great benefit to the region,” said Darren Eastwood, CDEnviro Business Development Director.

single-use plastic ban

Calls for recycling “latte levy” in the UK

British members of parliament have argued for the establishment of a latte levy to reduce disposable coffee cup waste and help fund recycling.

ABC News reported the UK Parliament’s environmental audit committee also recommended a ban on disposable coffee cups if they are not all recyclable by 2023. The committee found barely any of the more than two billion coffee cups that are tossed away each year are recyclable.

“The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year; enough to circle the planet five and a half times,” committee chairwoman Mary Creagh said.

“Coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this and government has sat on its hands.”

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MPs want disposable cups from cafes that do not recycle the items in store to be labelled with “not widely recycled” for consumers to see. The proposed latte levy would be a compulsory 25 pence (40 cents).

The committee said a disincentive would be more effective than an incentive, highlighting the success of the 5-pence single-use plastic bag charge.

“We’ve seen with the plastic bag charge an 83 per cent reduction in plastic bag use,” Ms Creagh said.

“We think the ‘latte levy’ will be the sort of charge that will really make people think, ‘Hang on a minute, I need to bring my cup to work today’, in the same way that they’re now moving more and more to reusable plastic bottles.”

A spokesperson for the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told ABC News the committee’s recommendations would be carefully considered.

Perisher Valley sees over 600kg rubbish removal

National Parks and Wildlife Service has removed more than 600kg of rubbish from Perisher in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW.

The December clean-up was conducted with Perisher Resort staff as part of the Annual Clean-Up Perisher Day in Kosciuszko National Park. The efforts led to the removal of 70kg of scrapped steel, 5kg of cardboard and paper, 60kg of plastic and glass recycling.

Blue Lake Kosciuszko National Park Tim Scanlon, NPWS Environmental Liaison Officer said once the snow has melted, it reveals hidden rubbish from the winter season.

“The rubbish collected included gloves, food wrappers and drinks cartons, often dropped by skiers accidentally from the ski lifts during the winter,” he said.

“Over 100 Perisher staff and 20 NPWS staff took part in this year’s Annual Clean-Up Perisher Day, walking up and down the resort collecting huge bags of rubbish.”

Mr Scanlon said over one million people visit Kosciuszko National Park each year including many coming to experience it during the summer time.

“Fines of up to $250 to $500 can be issued for littering in NSW. NPWS staff will continue to patrol for littering in Kosciuszko National Park,” he said.

Eight new Return and Earn collection points to open

Eight new collection points are set to open in NSW this week, bringing the total number of Return and Earn sites for the state to more than 300.

Millions of eligible containers have been returned since December 1, with people from all parts of NSW participating in the container deposit scheme. As of Friday morning, 5 January, a total of 22 million containers have been returned.

NSW Environment Protection Authority Chief Environmental Regulator Mark Gifford said the new collection points would enable even more people to return their eligible containers and claim the 10c deposit.

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“The number of returned containers is growing each week as people around NSW get behind the scheme and do the right thing by the environment with their used containers,” Mr Gifford said.

“Now even more people can get involved, with new collection points in Tamworth, Griffith, Armidale, the Hunter, Bankstown and more – the scheme is rolling out to all corners of the state.”

Mr Gifford said the total number of returns is expected to reach 25 million early next week. He said these are huge numbers and show just how popular the scheme is.

“And it’s not just people returning containers – the scheme operator TOMRA-Cleanaway is receiving lots of applications from the community and local businesses to host reverse vending machines and collection points.

“With more collection points opening even more people can get involved, which ultimately goes towards our aim of reducing litter in our environment.”

The eight new sites with reverse vending machines are all expected to be operational over the weekend and are as follows:

  • Kurri Golf Club, Clift Street, Heddon Greta
  • Bankstown Plaza, South Terrace, Bankstown
  • Carlo’s SUPA IGA Tamworth, Tamworth Shopping Village
  • Carter Street Cricket Grounds, Tamworth
  • Carter Street Softball Grounds, Tamworth
  • University of NSW, Kensington
  • Griffith Food Works, Banna Avenue, Griffith
  • Armidale Recycling Centre, 108 Long Swamp Road, Armidale
  • Another three sites are set to open soon in Edgeworth, Casino, and north Griffith.

As well as claiming the 10c refund at the collection points, people can choose to donate that 10c to one of the first four Return and Earn donation partners: Cancer Council, St Vincent de Paul, Surf Life Saving NSW and Planet Ark.

For more information on the scheme, a map of collection points and a list of eligible drink containers, visit Return and Earn.