Mantaray Island Resort opened its doors to travellers as an eco-resort in 2004. Now, with Australian-invented BioGill technology, the island is effectively treating wastewater on-site, recycling the water for garden re-use and protecting the local reefs and waterways. [ + ]

US President Barack Obama today announced a Climate Action Plan to reduce carbon pollution. According to Obama, the plan intends to give the United States - the world’s largest economy and second largest emitter - a leadership role “in a coordinated assault on a changing climate”. [ + ]

Australian research that shows packaging has a vital role to play within the supply chain in minimising food waste has been released. [ + ]

Sustainability in the food sector is often considered at factory level, including energy saving in processes, change in sourcing habits and reduction of waste in the supply chain. Recent developments in life-cycle assessment studies and nutritional analysis have opened new paths for mapping product sustainability. [ + ]

A research team at Swinburne University of Technology has overcome a fundamental law of optical science that could lead to faster and more energy-efficient optical computing. [ + ]

Fluke Australia has provided a list of the top six places to look for energy losses in commercial buildings together with details on how to detect these leaks using a thermal imaging scanner. [ + ]

Researchers in Germany have come up with an intelligent door seal system that calculates the best compromise between good indoor air quality and energy efficiency. [ + ]

For around every 4 L of olive oil that’s pressed from the ripe fruit, about 17 kg of olive skins, pulp and pits are left behind. Known as pomace, these leftovers typically have low-value uses. But US Department of Agriculture (USDA) agricultural engineer Rebecca R Milczarek and her colleagues are working with olive growers and olive-oil processors in California - where most of the US’s commercial olives are grown - to find new, environmentally friendly and profitable uses for pomace. [ + ]

Europeans live longer and healthier lives than in the past, partly due to successful environmental policies that have reduced the exposure to harmful environmental contaminants in air, water and food, according to a new report. However, these contaminants are still a problem, and several new health risks are emerging, for example, from new chemicals, new products and changing lifestyle patterns. [ + ]

The City of Vincent in Western Australia has signed a five-year contract to be part of the EnerNOC’s DemandSMART energy-saving program that is designed to reduce energy costs and provide visibility of energy consumption. [ + ]

Pasteurisation - a process used worldwide to disinfect and treat milk - will soon be used to treat recycled water in a project initiated by the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCE). [ + ]

As part of its research into liveable cities, strategic consulting and engineering firm MWH Global commissioned a study to examine what Australians want from the cities they live in now and into the future. [ + ]

To better understand how bacteria impact the environment, a former University of California, Riverside graduate student spent nearly a year building a system that replicates a human colon, septic tank and groundwater and ‘fed’ the colon three times a day during weeklong experiments to simulate human eating. [ + ]

NDY sustainability consultant Kemal Gungor* (PhD) examines the factors affecting air change effectiveness and outlines solutions to assist in achieving compliance with Green Star requirements. [ + ]

With all the discussion regarding container deposit legislation, packaging regulatory reviews and product stewardship, it is timely to step back and examine the key drivers to sustainable packaging and global trends. [ + ]