A wave energy generator has been positioned on the sea floor off Fremantle, Western Australia to start trial production of electricity and fresh water with no fossil fuel input. [ + ]

During March, the Steel Can Recycling Council and Coles Supermarkets ran a promotional campaign to boost the levels of awareness among consumers of the recyclability of steel packaging. [ + ]

New figures released in a Planet Ark report commissioned by the Australian government have revealed that Australians have cut their plastic bag habit by 1.34 billion bags a year. However, they are still using 5.58 billion plastic checkout bags a year. [ + ]

A seven-metre tall figure composed of three tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been installed at South Bank, London. [ + ]

The first national 'Butt Free City - Please Butt It, Then Bin It' campaign is asking smokers to help reduce the seven billion littered butts that hit Australian footpaths, gutters and waterways every year. [ + ]

Syft Technologies, producer of advanced SIFT-MS analytical solutions for large-scale identification and analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), has signed a significant export order with Australian Customs Services (Customs) to supply five Voice100 instruments to ports in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth. The order is worth in excess of NZ$2m and is to be delivered by June 2005. [ + ]

In a move that reflects its positioning in the brave new no-waste world of sustainable resource management, Waste Service NSW has changed its name to WSN Environmental Solutions. [ + ]

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has allowed a group of Sydney councils to collectively tender and contract for the provision of waste manage-ment services. [ + ]

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is one of the first Australian government agencies to publish a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. [ + ]

Over the next few years, industry is likely to see some evolutionary changes to the biodegradable plastic based on corn starch developed by Plantic Technologies. [ + ]

Research on stakeholder perceptions com-missioned by the Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA) has found that 74% or 17 of the 24 members surveyed have an environ-mental committee for buying products that contain recycled materials. [ + ]

The winner of our first draw of the 6 GB, 1500 song iPod Mini is Ann Perkins of Roche Mining in Queensland. Congratulations Ann. [ + ]

Curtin University of Technology and the Western Australian Water Corporation have combined to establish a water research centre at the university. [ + ]

Recycling company Sims Group Limited and environment services company Collex Pty Ltd chose Clean Up Australia Day in March to launch Australia's first comprehensive computer and electronics recycling business. [ + ]

The health of human populations is a truer bottom line of sustainability than the much-vaunted 'triple bottom line' approach, according to epidemiologist Tony McMichael who directs the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University (ANU). [ + ]