Resource Efficiency & Waste Management

Driving forward the sustainable waste management agenda in Queensland…. Time for a change?

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director – Waste Management & Resource Efficiency on 13 June 2013

My second week in Australia is coming to an end and this week I have been based in Brisbane, home of the Queensland State Government and Brisbane City Council (Australia’s largest council) as well as the Queensland Reds (Rugby Union), Brisbane Broncos (Rugby League) and Brisbane Roar (Aussie Rules) rugby and football teams. Brisbane is a great city, with 3 million people, a city beach, and a great bunch of people who love life and are trying to make things happen in the waste sector.

Supporting Australia’s waste management sector – recycling UK lessons

Posted by Adam Read, Practice Director – Waste Management & Resource Efficiency on 6 June 2013

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Melbourne earlier this week, running a breakfast briefing for the Victorian Waste Management Association and then spending the day with Sustainability Victoria. An early morning seminar kicked off @ 7am with 70 delegates representing local and regional government, waste operators and the leading trade bodies, enjoying a hearty breakfast in the RAC Club, before I was introduced to provide an ‘entertaining and insightful’ overview of the issues facing UK waste management, the lessons learned that could help inform policy directions in Australia, and to provide a critique of current Victorian Government policy. The presentation is available for download here for those of you interested.

Debunking some myths in the circular economy debate!

Posted by Victoria Cox, Environmental Economist – Waste Management & Resource Efficiency on 4 June 2013

Last week I attended a fascinating conference concerning the secondary commodities market, at which Sarahjane Widdowson from Ricardo-AEA gave a sterling presentation on the merits of Resource Efficient Business Models (REBMs). This was the third annual Scrap-ex Secondary Commodities Market Conference, with around 100 attendees.

South Africa – waste management at a cross roads ….

Posted by Dr Adam Read on 23 May 2013

*The high life in Cape Town*

Are you a criminal?

Posted by Lucy Shields, Senior Consultant – Waste Management & Resource Efficiency on 25 April 2013

We sang songs in primary school assembly about litter, from memory the words went a little bit like this;

Spring 2013 – The heat is ON

Posted by Simon Gouldman and Maria Vinogradova on 22 April 2013

We may not have had much sunshine so far this spring but there has been plenty of heat radiating from Energy from Waste projects and facilities – and I’m not just talking about incinerators. 

Is the British public producing less waste or becoming more resource efficient, and does it matter?

Posted by Dr Adam Read on 17 April 2013

A recent article in The Economist[http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21576139-people-are-throwing-out-lessbut-not-because-they-are-recycling-more-waste-not] sparked some interesting debate in the office earlier this week, making us think about the way in which household waste is being managed in the UK, particularly the way households and consumers deal with unwanted, broken and discarded products and packaging. The article declares that people are throwing out less than in previous years (at least since sensible records begun in the 1980s) and attributes this to a mixture of changed eating habits and the current economic climate however it fails to reach a solid conclusion, something that could be set for a number of recent research studies and policy papers by Government and their delivery bodies. So what is happening to household recycling in the UK? And is progress continuing to be made?

Energy futures – is Australia missing out?

Posted by Dr Adam Read and Simon Gandy on 13 March 2013

October’s Energy White Paper, produced by the Australian federal government, sets out a new strategic policy framework to address the challenges in Australia’s energy sector and further position the Australian economy for a long-term transformation in the way energy is produced.

Waste infrastructure capacity

Posted by Simon Gandy, Principal Consultant on 7 March 2013

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Does the UK have over capacity issues?

Posted by Simon Gandy, Maria Vinogradova and Dr Adam Read on 19 February 2013

Ricardo-AEA has been involved in discussions about the state of the UK’s waste infrastructure landscape.