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).

The city of Auckland is aiming to have zero waste to landfill by 2015.

Plantic Technologies and Visy Industries have entered an agreement to develop and commercialise new technology based on Plantic 'plastic from plants'.

Victorian Waste Streams readers with outstanding achievements in water conservation can enter the 2005 savewater! awards being run by the savewater! alliance Inc.

The author of Cannibals with Forks, John Elkington from SustainAbility Ltd, will be a keynote speaker at a one-day forum titled 'Doing Sustainability: Moving from How to Why' to be run in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland, 2 to 5 May.

After a rigorous 18 month process, the Australian Water Association (AWA) is now rolling out a new governance structure, which involves a Strategic Advisory Council to represent all its branches, with two representatives per branch. The council met recently to select a reduced board of nine members, compared to a previous 16.