Australian and European leaders in sustainability will come together in Sydney on 9 May for the inaugural Australian Product Stewardship Forum — an opportunity to share practical and strategic steps that manufacturers, brands, retailers and governments can take to produce and consume products without waste. Businesses and policymakers can expect to be inspired and challenged by a line-up of international and Australian speakers, with interactive panels furthering the discussion about what can be done to ensure products sold in Australia cause less harm to the environment and society across th ..read more

Integrated plastic packaging manufacturing and recycling company Pact Group has won the Circular Economy Award at this year’s Chemistry Australia Industry Awards for its efforts to recycle the equivalent of half a billion used milk bottles a year and turn them into new milk bottles. The CPA facility can recycle up to 20,000 t of used high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) packaging each year at full operational capacity. This equates to around half a billion 2 L milk bottles. The facility uses state-of-the-art equipment to sort, shred, wash, sanitise and dry the material befo ..read more

The VC & VR series of Galltec-Mela are rod-shaped compact sensors with high-grade steel housing. These sensors are developed to measure humidity and temperature in a wide range of applications and have been specially developed for use in extreme conditions. They are available with a 1.5 m connecting cable (VC series), without cable (VK series) or with a robust aluminium connecting head and terminal screws (VR series) for measuring relative humidity and temperature in air and other non-aggressive gases. The advantages of the series .../9 are its improved dynamics, in particular at low air ..read more

Gippsland Water provide quality Water and Waste Water services to the Gippsland Region of Victoria. At their Morwell Waste Water Treatment Plant, Gippsland Water have utilised two Gorman Rupp Ultra V series 3″ pumps as the inlet works pumps for the plant. Why did Gippsland Water select Gorman-Rupp Eradicator upgrade kit for this project? Until December 2020, the inlet works had a muncher prior to the pump suction lines. Following multiple position changes and two catastrophic failures, the last being the bottom bearing failing resulting in one side slipping down and chewing out all the teeth ..read more

The Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo (AWRE) is back for its 15th year, taking place at ICC in Sydney from 24–25 July 2024. The event makes a welcome return as Australians grapple with the increasing complexities surrounding waste and recycling, compounded by the collapse of soft-plastic recycling firms like REDcycle. While the recycling rate in Australia is improving, the amount of waste we’re generating continues to increase as our population grows, according to the 2022 National Waste Report. The exhibition, featuring the AWRE Summit, will serve as a forum for leaders and profes ..read more

In the realm of technology and digital transformation, data centres stand as critical infrastructures, powering the backbone of the internet, cloud computing, and the Edge. Yet, with great power comes great responsibility, especially in the context of sustainability and energy management. These facilities are among the largest consumers of energy worldwide; however, there lies a vast potential within them to redefine their energy consumption patterns and, in doing so, level-up their business operations. “Optimising the journey towards sustainability in data centres encompasses adoption of ren ..read more

With the support of APR Plastics, Recycle Wise has initiated a service previously missing in the healthcare industry. The service provides a recycling pathway for a commonly used type of IV bag. 85% of plastic waste in health care is clean and can be recycled if there is a stream to support it, according to the Ministers Priority List for 2023–2024, which singled out plastics in health care. The List instructs manufacturers, importers and distributors of health items to exhibit enhanced and measurable actions towards product stewardship by November 2024. In light of this directive, Recycle Wi ..read more

RMIT University engineers have created a new type of energy-efficient brick from scrap materials. In collaboration with Australian recycling company Visy, the engineers used a minimum of 15% waste glass and 20% combusted solid waste (ash) as substitutes for clay in their bricks. Team leader Associate Professor Dilan Robert said about 1.4 trillion bricks were used in construction projects globally every year. “Business-as-usual brick production produces harmful emissions — including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and chlorine — and puts a serious strain on our natural resources, particularly c ..read more

When tyres are broken down, the liquid oil that is formed normally contains hazardous sulfur-containing compounds, presenting a challenge for the safe upcycling of tyre waste. Now, a team of scientists from Monash University appear to have solved this problem, using a coffee grinder, a freezer and a furnace. Their study is believed to be the first of its kind. The chemical engineers found that there were strong synergies between tyre scrap and plastics, including low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polystyrene, when all of these materials were treated together in a system using a process know ..read more

Compressors and the compressed air they generate are used in a multitude of applications. However, the fact that compressor exhaust heat can be harnessed often remains forgotten. Up to 96% of the drive energy supplied to a compressor is available for reuse — this is referred to as “heat recovery”. Heat recovery not only saves energy and costs, but also reduces the operator’s CO2 footprint. Of course, this heat could simply be conveyed away. However, there are plenty of ways to make use of this readily available energy source that occurs as a by-product of the compression process. The sim ..read more