Waste Companies, Recyclers and Environmentalists Unite To Prevent Global Warming
Thursday, 16 August 2007 22:36
Currently, the dumping of food, garden, paper and wood wastes produces high levels of landfill gas, consisting mostly of methane, which has a global warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide. Unless new recycling policies are implemented, there is a significant risk of increasing greenhouse gas emissions over the next 50 years, making up potentially 85% of Australia’s future carbon budget, according to original research conducted by sustainability consultants Warnken ISE. In order to address this challenge there are a range of solutions available said the Resource Recovery Collaboration.
Total Environment Centre director, Jeff Angel, said “This is a pollution liability we must avoid. To combat it, these degradable materials should be recycled, instead of land filled. Measures such as a landfill allowance scheme, emissions trading, bans and levies imposed at the tip, are available.”
Visy General Environment Manager, Nick Harford agrees saying “Closed loop recycling and re-use of these materials is vital with significant potential for future investment in these new generation industries.”
John Lawson, Manager at Global Renewables, stated that “strategy needs to be implemented now to decrease greenhouse gases and increase the sustainable use of resources. Business-as-usual projections of landfill emissions show an increase from 15.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in 1990 to 46.9 million tonnes by 2050. We believe removal of this pollution would be widely accepted by the Australian community.”
Anna Mitchell, Corporate Development and Sustainability Manager with WSN Environmental Solutions pointed out that “WSN’s customers are seeking responsible waste management solutions as they realise there is a real opportunity to reduce their climate change impact by the choices they make about waste management.”
The Resource Recovery Collaboration Participants and Contacts:
Total Environment Centre
Total Environment Centre (TEC) is an independent, non-profit group that have operated for over 30 years, working to protect this country's natural and urban environment, flagging the issues, driving debate, supporting community activism and pushing for better environmental policy and practice.
Contact: Jeff Angel, Director
Ph: 02- 9261 3437
Global Renewables
Global Renewables is a leader in sustainable business which delivers economic, social and environmental results by reducing, reusing and recycling municipal waste and improving carbon efficiency. Global Renewables provides innovative technological solutions to the growing problem of municipal solid waste in order to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to a sustainable environment for the benefit of all, while delivering a positive economic return to shareholders.
Contact: John Lawson, Manager,
Ph: 02- 9223 8099 M: 0438 873 475
WSN Environmental Solutions
WSN Environmental Solutions provides responsible recycling, resource recovery and waste management services to the greater Sydney area and beyond with a network of 12 waste and recycling facilities, kerbside collection and commercial waste management services. WSN currently employs 380 people and in 2005-2006 processed over 1,900,000 tonnes of waste. In 2004, WSN partnered with GRL to open Sydney’s first alternative waste processing facility at Eastern Creek. In 2008 WSN will open Australia’s largest fully integrated resource recovery site for household waste in Sydney’s south west, with an alternative waste processing facility capable of diverting around 70% of household waste from landfill.
Contact: Anna Mitchell, Corporate Development & Sustainability Manager
Ph: 02- 9934 7029 M: 0408 408 690
VISY
Visy is an integrated packaging and recycling company, committed to sustainability and environmental improvement. In Australia and New Zealand, Visy employs about 6000 people and operates more than 120 packaging and recycling facilities. Visy collects and processes almost 2 million tonnes of used material and makes more than 1 million tonnes of recycled content paper every year, as well as a range of beverage, food and specialty packaging. VISY was judged Australia's leading company for environmental performance in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers' annual corporate reputation index for four consecutive years.
Contact: Nicholas Harford, General Manager, Environment
Ph: 03- 9247 4519 M: 0419 993 234
SITA Environmental Solutions
SITA Environmental Solutions is one of Australia’s leading recycling and waste management companies, operating in all Australian mainland states and the Australian Capital Territory to provide environmental and sustainable waste management services to more than 43,000 commercial and industrial customers and more than 800,000 households each week across Australia. Services include recycling domestic collection, commercial and industrial collection, waste assessment and resource recovery options, sorting, processing such as composting, autoclaving, product destruction, waste stabilisation, engineered landfill operations and transfer facilities.
Contact: Mike Ritchie, National General Manager, Marketing and Communications
Ph: 02- 8754 0105 M: 0401 980 391
