‘Nothing should be classified as waste': crisis is opportunity for Veena Sahajwalla.

Veena Sahajwalla has a solution for the waste crisis. While for most people the ever-growing mountains of rubbish stockpiled around the world seems like an overwhelming problem, the materials scientist and engineer sees the crisis as an opportunity that could help us to rethink the way we make and dispose of everything in our lives.

 Veena Sahajwalla and her team at UNSW have been
 working on a manufacturing process to create building
 materials from old textiles, paper and glass.

Take textiles. Australians send around 88% of textiles to landfill, with around 6,000kg of clothing dumped every 10 minutes. Earlier this year, there was a nationwide clearing-out flurry, leading to charity shops being inundated with unwanted goods. Most were destined for landfill.

Read the story from The Guardian by Alexandra Spring - “‘Nothing should be classified as waste': crisis is opportunity for Veena Sahajwalla.”

(Veena Sahajwalla was one of a trio of specialists to speak at a Slap Tomorrow forum in Shepparton in 2013 - “Climate Change: A wake-up call” - Robert McLean)

Environment ministers endorse plan to make all packaging recyclable by 2025

Australia's environment ministers have backed a plan for all packaging to be "recyclable, compostable or reusable" within eight years as part of an effort to fix the nation's waste crisis.

State and territory environment ministers meeting on Friday.

The target was among a series of measures endorsed in a Friday meeting focused on boosting recycling in Australia after China recently decided to restrict imports of foreign waste.

The plan to transform packaging by 2025 or earlier is a "monumental call to action," said Brooke Donnelly, chief executive of industry body the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, which will lead the effort.

Read the story by Fergus Hunter from The Age - “Environment ministers endorse plan to make all packaging recyclable by 2025.”