As a country which has continually had to deal with the scarcity of water, Australia is ideally placed to become a leader in the US$400 billion global water market. But a detailed analysis of our water innovation patents has found Australian companies are failing to leverage their valuable intellectual property (IP) into global markets.

Sustainability and mining are two words that don’t quite seem to fit together. But with evolving social expectations, and under increasing public and media scrutiny, the past decade has seen the mining industry put in a huge effort into sustainable development in order to maintain its ‘social licence to operate’.

Engineers Australia has selected the ‘Make it so’ idea, which will be made a reality by the engineering profession. It is to ‘make it so’ developing communities can re-use their agricultural waste to create energy for cooking and heating.

Monitoring and controlling the amount of organic matter in our streams and waterways is critical for environmental protection. Total organic carbon (TOC) is the amount of carbon present in an organic compound and measuring it provides a fast and convenient way to determine water quality. This article looks at the different methods now available for analysing TOC.

Cling wrap that captures CO₂ and a recycling technique for pig waste are two of the research discoveries in this year’s Fresh Science competition. The national competition identifies new and interesting research being done by early-career scientists from around the country and then helps them present their research to the public.

As the 2009/10 financial year comes to a close, corporations are busy with their financial reporting requirements. The end of the fiscal year also signifies the approach of greenhouse gas and energy reporting deadlines under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER Act), where corporations over a certain size are required to report their emissions and energy by 31 October.

The Plastiki, a 60-foot (18.2 m) catamaran made from plastic bottles, sailed into Sydney Harbour on Monday 26 July. Designed to raise awareness of the amount of plastic waste in the ocean and plant the seed in everyone’s mind to think about minimising waste and re-using materials intelligently, the Plastiki expedition is the creation of adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild and his organisation, Adventure Ecology.

The future ISO 50001 standard for energy management was recently approved as a Draft International Standard (DIS).

City of Melbourne conducted a trial of drain litter strainers between July 2009 and December 2009. The purpose of this trial was to survey the litter captured in each trap. A unique aspect of the trial was the use of filter cartridges that were placed at the bottom of each drain strainer to prevent smaller particles of litter and dissolved pollutants in the stormwater run-off from entering the waterways. The filter bags were filled with Reactive Filter Media Technology supplied by Star Water Solutions. These were described in a report on the findings by URS as ‘carbon pillows’.

Today’s emerging sustainability requirements in the building industry are creating new types of considerations, particularly when designing modern solutions for heritage-listed properties.

The Glass Packaging Forum recently released the latest data about New Zealand’s glass packaging production, consumption and recovery showing that New Zealanders recycled 166,575 tonnes of glass packaging last year and that two out of every three glass containers is now being recycled.

Applying a whole-of-catchment approach to water management is now possible thanks to Source Catchments, the first component of eWater’s integrated water modelling suite, eWater Source, to be publicly released.

Energy-efficiency legislation is powering up the government agenda but how should the government ensure any new schemes are widely adopted? Peter Garrett, Managing Director, mySmart CTI, comments.

A Cardia Bioplastics and Sulo MGB (Australia) collaboration is providing a household food waste recycling solution. Cardia will supply certified compostable bags enabling Sulo to provide a fully integrated organic waste diversion service to local governments.

The biggest wetland ever constructed in Victoria has been completed and will play a key role in improving the health of Melbourne’s waterways, particularly Dandenong Creek and Port Phillip Bay. Water Minister Tim Holding officially opened the 48-hectare Dandenong Valley Wetland in Scoresby, which is 24 times the size of the MCG.