The NSW Government has awarded a water recycling licence to Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies to build a recycled water plant at the $500 million Darling Quarter development. The mixed-use development, located in Darling Harbour, Sydney, is one of the first to be granted a water recycling licence as part of the 2010 NSW Metropolitan Water Plan.

How can the efficiency of energy and resources be increased, in the long term, in the manufacture of PET bottles? As part of a project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, and run by the Research Center of Karlsruhe*, experts have been investigating just this in the stretch blow-mould process chain. The project started in 2009 and should be completed by 2011. The first results have now been published.

LanzaTech has produced 2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BD), a key building block used to make polymers, plastics and hydrocarbon fuels, using its gas fermentation technology.

An Australian environmental management consultancy is playing an integral role in a major overhaul of the Abu Dhabi tourism, construction and transport industries.

Reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and energy use, thanks to innovative technology, have secured Alcoa a win at the 2010 WA Engineering Excellence Awards.

Critical communications specialist Broadcast Australia has commissioned its first broadcast transmission site to be majority powered by renewable energy. The Mount Owen site near Queenstown in Tasmania has been recently upgraded to use site-generated wind and solar power, which are together expected to reliably meet the site’s 8 kW power needs for 80 to 90% of the time.

An Australia-based contract manufacturer of generic prescription pharmaceuticals has contracted Donaldson Australasia to upgrade its waste disposal system.

Pacific Beverages’ Bluetongue Brewery in New South Wales features a water recovery plant, which targets best-practice, water re-use standards. The water recovery plant also provides renewable energy for the brewery.

Commercial products and services can now gain Australia-wide recognition for their water saving attributes through Australia’s water saving scheme, Smart Approved WaterMark, which has broadened its parameters to assess commercially oriented claims.

ABB flowmeters have enabled a US university to cut steam losses in its generation plant and recover more than $1.25 million a year in lost revenues. The solution has also created a campus-wide awareness of the need for energy efficiency.

Adelaide-based GTL Energy (GTLE) has announced the completion of construction and commissioning of its coal upgrading plant module near South Heart, North Dakota in the US. The GTLE Dakota plant is a single-module, commercial-scale plant which has been designed to provide proof of the GTLE technology for coal consumers and producers. The company intends to increase both the length and volumes of production runs through the remainder of 2010.

Plasback is a product stewardship program that is run by Tapex, a supplier of fodder conservation plastics. The program currently recycles waste silage wrap, pit covers, grain tubes and twine for farmers. It works with partner recyclers in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney that reprocess the plastic waste and give it a second use as plastic pellets which can be remoulded into plywood sheets called Tuffboard and Tuffdeck.

Adelaide Resource Recovery (ARR) operates from Adelaide’s Wingfield Recycling Centre and is receiving regular enquiries from businesses in Hong Kong and China that are keen to buy SA’s waste plastic.

Ormiston Road Senior College in Auckland, due for completion in October 2010, was recently awarded a 5 Star Green Star rating by the independent Green Building Council of New Zealand. A total of 68 points were achieved overall, six points shy of a 6 Star rating. The use of Windcatchers allowed the college to secure one point for Green Star Innovation.

The latest addition to Melbourne’s thriving arts precinct in Southbank, Triptych, is setting a benchmark for apartment living by delivering innovation in green space and dedication to high-end environmentally sustainable design.