As part of International Composting Awareness Week (5-11 May), waste and recycling management company Cleanaway is urging Australian householders to do more composting in an effort to divert recyclable materials away from landfill. [ + ]

Highly regarded environmentalist Don Henry has joined the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, located at the University of Melbourne, as a Public Policy Fellow in Environmentalism. [ + ]

Power and automation technology group ABB has announced that the Power-One Renewable Energy business will transition to the ABB brand this month as part of the planned integration of the company. [ + ]

The Energy Network Association (ENA) has released two new publications - 'The Road to Fairer Prices' and 'Electricity Prices and Network Costs' - highlighting recent influences on energy prices and suggesting smarter pricing structures. [ + ]

Philips Lighting's latest market data shows uptake of LED lighting is increasing in New Zealand. The growth is expected to continue as the price point for the company's newest lighting option continues to reduce. [ + ]

Brookfield Multiplex, Hassell and Aecom have partnered with the Cooperative Research Centre for Low-Carbon Living (CRCLCL) in a three-year project to develop buildings that have a positive impact on people's health, wellbeing and productivity, and improve their environmental performance. [ + ]

The Australian Water Association's (AWA's) National Water Awards were announced last night as part of the annual Ozwater conference and exhibition. Presented across eight categories, the awards included projects from all Australian states and territories. [ + ]

Environment ministers from across Australia met in Canberra on Tuesday to progress key environment issues of national significance, but decided that more time was needed to fully assess the decision on packaging policy options. [ + ]

ROAM Consulting has conducted a study on Australia's Renewable Energy Target (RET), said to be the most extensive modelling conducted on the scheme to date. The study was commissioned by the Clean Energy Council to look at the impact of the RET under different scenarios. [ + ]

Consult Australia, with the support of gold sponsor Norman Disney & Young (NDY), has released The Business of Sustainability - a website and tool to be used by the professional services industry to improve business sustainability. [ + ]

CSIRO and its industry partners plan to conduct a power-generation trial using Victorian brown coal processed into a slurry and injected into an adapted diesel engine. The direct injection carbon engine (DICE) aims to reduce emissions from brown-coal-generated electricity by 50% compared to current technology. [ + ]

Solid biofuels are the largest renewable energy source and likely to play an important role in a low-carbon future, but their global production has not yet been traded on an equal and harmonised basis at the international level. ISO is now working on a series of International Standards on solid biofuel specifications and classes. [ + ]

An international scientific committee of 10 sustainability experts has been appointed to promote, oversee and guide transformational research and future city planning for the Australian Visions and Pathways 2040 project. [ + ]

Consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff has appointed Dean Toomey as General Manager Water and Andrew Schroth as Regional Director, Western Australia. [ + ]

CSIRO has developed a material that prevents plastic from ageing and, when applied to plastic lining, can clean up exhaust gases from power plants much more effectively than existing methods. [ + ]