Sustainability is steadily gaining in importance for consumers. They want ethically and ecologically impeccable products, packaged in a resource-conserving manner that nevertheless ensures their perfect condition when purchased. This is a major challenge to packaging producers, as the industry wants to save on materials without compromising the stability of the packaging in any way.

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Australian buildings are becoming so much more energy efficient; the NABERS program has opened up a discussion on extending its traditional five-star rating scale.

Global carbon dioxide emissions contributing to atmospheric warming show no sign of abating and may reach record levels in 2010, according to the Global Carbon Project (GCP), supported by CSIRO’s Marine and Atmospheric Research Division.

Productivity, competitiveness and sustainability have been identified by the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) as the most significant actions for manufacturers to adopt in Australia.

State-of-the-art modelling and research tools to help Australia better manage its groundwater and catchments have been made available to a national groundwater research centre.

The world is one step closer to being freed from a reliance on fossil fuel-based fertiliser with the announcement of a $10 million project underway at Murdoch University.

Despite scientific evidence of climate change, it will take a significant cultural shift in attitudes to address the situation, says a University of Michigan researcher.

ACOR (previously the Australian Council of Recyclers) has reinvented itself to take on the umbrella industry role of leading the push for governments to recognise the economic and environmental benefits of three complementary business systems: product stewardship, resource recovery and recycling. The organisation’s revised constitution and new leadership is designed to provide all businesses in these three sectors with a stronger voice nationally.

Victor Harbor is a popular and rapidly expanding coastal town on the Fleurieu Peninsula, some

With increased threats from climate change, pollution and diminishing natural resources and biodiversity, it’s important to reconsider the way we live and the way we utilise our environments. Parson Brinckerhoff’s Director of Sustainability Darren Bilsborough* proposes the idea of a ‘biophilic city’ as one potential solution to these increasing pressures. He has developed a paper on an economic rationale supporting Biophilic Cities which is summarised in this article.

Despite rising global concern on climate change and increasing scarcity of natural resources, Australia is sending over 21 million tonnes of waste to landfill every year. Technologies exist today that enable councils and businesses to deliver on their sustainability goals and greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint reductions. SITA Environmental Solutions (SITA) advanced resource recovery technology (ARRT) facilities offer a good alternative to process and re-use this ‘wasted’ landfilled feedstock.

Households throw away billions of dollars of edible food each year, equating to around 3 kg of food waste each week per household. This is not only a massive waste of food, but it is also a waste of energy, water and resources which have been used in the production of that food. This was one of the topics discussed as the recent Zero Waste conference held in Sydney in September.

The introduction of waste levies and targets to reduce landfill by 60%, are driving local councils to look at more sustainable options for collecting and managing household waste.

Rooty Hill RSL has completed installation of a tri-generation power plant which is designed to future-proof its growing power requirements in a green and efficient way. At a total cost of more than $4.5 million, it is expected Rooty Hill RSL will lower its carbon emissions by 50% as a result of the installation.