Better Waste Options
Packaging made from food waste could save millions of tonnes of produce from landfill
According to a report on ABC Rural on 14 August 2023, plastic food packaging could soon be made from food waste and the browning bananas on your kitchen counter could be transformed into the plastic packaging that contains your next garden salad. Scientists say they have found a way to divert food from landfill and convert it into biodegradable plastic wraps and cellophanes.
There are other alternatives to treatment of food waste but there are also challenges for achieving them. This report reveals just how much food is wasted, predominantly by households but also by food that doesn’t meet supermarket specifications. It covers a potential new technology, some other alternatives and some of those challenges.
Minister Sharpe’s Roundtable meeting on Waste – June 2023
This is the National Toxics Network’s most recent submission on waste and a circular economy.
A consensus statement on zero waste solutions for Australia
This is a concise statement of the negative impacts of incineration and the benefits of adopting a zero waste approach by the National Toxics Network, Zero Waste and other organisations from around the world. Amongst other things, they call for ‘an immediate end to Government subsidies and finance for all waste to energy incinerator proposals in Australia and urgent investment in sustainable Zero Waste models of waste management with the full engagement and inclusion of the community’. For those of us in Australia facing the possible installation of a waste to energy plant near them it’s of comfort yo know that these organisations are standing in solidarity with us.
The best solution is a zero waste solution
“Zero Waste is a goal that is both pragmatic and visionary, to guide people to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are resources for others to use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water, or air that may be a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health. ”
Definition of Zero Waste as adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance
What would this mean for Australia?
Click here for Zero Waste article
