The debate about the use of plastic rages on. News like the recent report of plastic bags being found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench creates worldwide awareness of the problem caused by plastic. Understandably many people want to ban all plastic immediately. It is necessary to hear the other side of the debate
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Recycling organic waste is surprisingly easy – recycling non organic items is a whole lot harder. Which just goes to show how complicated we have made our stuff. Organic waste can now be composted in a windrow or anaerobic digester. It can also be used to produce energy in a number of ways and converted
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Orasa is now officially in existence. At an event held at Hotel Verde recently Orasa was formally launched to the organics waste industry, industry players and the public in general. With the first organics ban due to come into effect in 2022 it is just in time to build capacity in the organics industry. Hotel
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After years of being regarded as the poor cousin of waste disposal recycling is becoming the star. It has to do with the adoption of the circular economy. Instead of throwing things away – the waste disposal option, which is based on the linear economy – we are now starting to reuse them. The recycling
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The Planetary Health Diet was unveiled last week. Will this feed 10 billion people, save 11 million a year from starvation and do less damage to the planet than we are presently doing? Or, will it be another also ran along with Banting, Atkins and the Mediterranean diets? Diets used to be simple, cut out
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Judging by social media everyone is upset with plastic – especially single use plastic. The new cry is let’s have compostable plastic. But is this a dead end street? Concerned individuals are starting to make their voices heard and are resisting using plastic wherever possible. More consumers are refusing to accept plastic bags at the
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Early man, like the animals with whom he lived, wasted nothing. Everything was recycled. Recycling is no longer a natural activity of humans. The situation has been made worse in the present linear economy. We are conditioned to consume resources and dispose of the waste generated. Can we go back to our ancestors ways? Recycling
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“Benjamin Franklin said there were only two things certain in life: death and taxes. But I’d like to add a third certainty: trash. And while some in this room might want to discuss reducing taxes, I want to talk about reducing trash.” – Ruth Ann Minner This quotation got me thinking – are death, taxes
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The words “waste management plan” invariably conjure up an image of a thick document and a lot of cost. But it doesn’t have to be. At its simplest a waste management plan is something a homeowner can create on the back of a serviette while watching TV. Waste management plans have developed an image of
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The H1 figures are due out shortly. Even if the economy is not in recession we are teetering on the brink. Recycling can help a business survive the tough times. Waste is all about volumes – the more we produce, the more waste we generate. During normal or good times we tend to consume more
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