Material Guide: Can Polyurethane Ever Be Sustainable?
Polyurethane is often used as a fabric coating to improve durability and has been touted as an alternative to animal-derived leather—but it is a plastic, and it has serious implications for the planet. Here, we explore what polyurethane is and whether it can ever be considered sustainable. What is polyurethane and how is it used […]
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WMRR talks about recycled materials during National Recycling Week
The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) is using National Recycling Week 2024 (11–17 November 2024) to encourage the community and business to actively choose to buy Australian recycled materials.
WMRR CEO Gayle Sloan said: “Recycling plays a vital role in protecting the environment, reducing the strain on the planet’s natural resources and cutting carbon emissions. Whilst the ideal is we do not create waste, the reality is we do. Of all the waste generated in Australia, 63% of it is recovered.
“Recycling does not stop at placing material in the correct bin. It starts and continues at the shelf with what we buy and keep buying, using, sharing and repairing,” Sloan said.
WMRR encourages the community, business and government to actively think about what they buy and how they can use less for longer.
“We must extend the life of materials by keeping them circulating for longer and valuing them in the same way we value new. Recycling the planet’s valuable resources and reducing demand on virgin materials and reducing emissions must always be the goal,” Sloan said.
Image credit: iStock.com/EyeEm Mobile GmbH
My Brain Took an Extended Vacation: Ben Zank Playfully Twists the Banal
When words can’t quite sum up a feeling, Ben Zank leans into a bizarre visual language.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article My Brain Took an Extended Vacation: Ben Zank Playfully Twists the Banal appeared first on Colossal.
NSW celebrates recycling triumph
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has reported that considerable progress has been made in the New South Wales recycling sector, with the state now capable of processing nearly 140,000 tonnes of additional material annually.
Critical to this triumph has been $9.1 million in funding from the EPA over the last five years under the Product Improvement Program. The program was set up in response to China’s 2018 National Sword Policy, which restricted the importation of certain materials for recycling, including most plastics, paper and cardboard, glass and other solid wastes.
The program’s successful completion coincided with National Recycling Week.
The initiative has achieved:
Almost 85,000 tonnes of recyclable material re-directed from landfill.
Contamination rates for plastic, and paper and cardboard dropping up to 11%.
Over 46,000 tonnes of recycled material processed or reprocessed per year.
More than 24,000 tonnes of plastic reprocessed and remanufactured.
More than 46,000 tonnes of recycled material used to manufacture new products per year.
NSW EPA CEO Tony Chappel said increasing the state’s capacity to recycle material is critical, given landfill space in Greater Sydney set to be exhausted by 2030.
“At our recent Circular Economy Summit, we highlighted the need to take decisive action and come up with new waste and recycling solutions,” he said.
“This program showcases what we can do when we invest and innovate together. We’ve seen significant leaps forward by industry at all stages of the recycling journey from sorting to reprocessing and remanufacturing.
“Material recovery facilities have improved the quality of recycled products, contamination rates have dropped up to 11%, and we’ve increased our capacity to process waste by almost 140,000 tonnes each year.
“This is a huge achievement, equivalent to 1700 Olympic swimming pools.”
China used to be the largest importer of recyclable products — accounting for 30% of Australia’s exports. The National Sword Policy restrictions had a huge impact on Australia’s ability to export recyclable materials, requiring the recycling sector to shift towards local solutions.
In 2018–2019, 22 grants were awarded to help industry to expand and improve local recycling markets and infrastructure.
The funding propelled a diverse range of projects whose goals included enhancing recycling infrastructure; driving innovation for recycling plastics, paper, cardboard, glass and problem waste; and providing more Australian-sourced recycled material for use in product manufacturing.
These results helped NSW target 53% of materials impacted by the National Sword Policy in NSW.
Image caption: Veolia recycling facility. Image courtesy of the EPA.
