Where does plastic waste go when it reaches the ocean? For most of it, not far.
Articles on Rubbish
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From Orwell to Trump, the wealthy have a long tradition of stereotyping working-class communities as “dirty” – that has to stop.
This year’s national conference of the Australian Marine Science Association is a plastic-free zone, as marine scientists aim to reduce the environmental burden of throwaway plastic.
Great areas of rubbish – known as ‘garbage patches’ – are known to form in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but not the southern Indian Ocean. Why is that?
China’s refusal to take Australia’s rubbish has started to bite, and it’s clear we’re not ready to deal with the consequences.
Since China stopped accepting Australia’s recyclable plastic, the majority of exported plastic waste is now going to developing nations in South East Asia.
Dumping your closet debris on a charity shop just means giving volunteers the cost of sorting out your landfill.
Illegal dumping is costing governments millions – but satellite technology could help put a stop to it.
Under a new target, 100% of Australian packaging will be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025. But this is not enough - we also need to ensure that recyclable materials are actually recycled.
Ipswich Council has stopped recycling and it’s likely that others around Australia will follow suit.
Young people are taking to bins to protest food waste.
The strategy’s focus on rotten apples seems destined to fail.
Landfills produce huge amounts of methane. Many of the bigger operators capture it to turn into energy, but they’re wasting about 80% of what’s available. It’s time Australia stepped up.
Banning single-use plastic bags makes sense, as long as it doesn’t usher in behaviours that are just as bad, or worse – like over-using heavier bags made of even more plastic.
After making worldwide headlines with the story of the Pacific “garbage island”, researchers were sent a photo of the same beach, white sand free of litter, as recently as 1992.
Australia sends 20 million tonnes of garbage to landfill every year. With thousands of sites across the nation, it’s hard to track exactly how many there are, where they are, and what’s filling them.
Time for a little more make do and mend.
Australia’s recycling rules can seem horrendously complicated. But there a few golden rules to follow.
More Australians are recycling than ever, but let’s not forget that avoiding waste in the first place is the best option.
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This episode explores how one person's waste can be another's treasure. We talk to scientists trying to eke something useful out of big piles of rubbish and discuss making the economy more circular.
Top contributors
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Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of Southampton
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Senior Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash University
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Research Associate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London
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Senior Principal Research Scientist, Environment, CSIRO
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Lecturer in Resource Efficiency Systems, School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds; Imperial College London
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Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
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Professor and Director Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland
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Professor in Oceanography and Public Engagement, Utrecht University
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Professor of Waste Management, The University of Queensland
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Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO
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Birkbeck, University of London
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Nottingham Trent University
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Research fellow, Coventry University
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Director, BehaviourWorks, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University
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Associate professor, Curtin University