FEB/MAR 2026 ISSUE 130
18 Micro recycling 27 Navigating legislation 52 Young Professional
Lessons to be learned from overseas experiences By Inside Waste
as a civic nuisance is now being managed as environmental crime. “When you look at the volume and locations, you can see it clearly, this is coordinated wrongdoing, not random mess,” Taylor said. For Whittlesea, the problem was stark: the mayor described a 35 per cent rise in illegal dumping over two years, prompting the council to form a dedicated Waste Management Task Force and to rethink a strategy that had previously relied on periodic cleanups. “We realised we were spending more time reacting than preventing,” Taylor added. “The data was telling us to change course.” Taylor described a shift in mindset from ad hoc removal of waste to a model more akin to an investigative operation. That change began with council officers and the chief executive identifying hot spots and pooling intelligence.
What can Australia learn from overseas experiences when relating the resource recovery/waste industry? Quite a bit, according to a panel put together to discuss the subject at a recent event in Melbourne. The MC for the event was WCRA executive director Brett Lemin. Lending their wisdom to the proceedings was an eclectic group from industry, all with experience in dealing with overseas markets. On board were Helen Millicer, CEO One Planet Consulting; Adrienna Zsakay, CEO Circular Economy Asia; Meryl Sukumar, Founder Subcinctus Consulting Partners; Reza Yosri, Project Manager, Ramboll; and Roelof Vogel, CE Researcher, Monash Business School. Zsakay emphasised that one of Asia’s key strengths is separating materials at the source, in contrast with Australia’s comingled approach. She highlighted that in dense urban environments like Bangkok, conventional waste trucks cannot access half of the streets, making material separation critical for preserving value. She noted that without separation, recycling and recovery become inefficient and less economically viable. “I think where Asia has its strength is in its ability for separation and source,” she said. “Recyclable materials have to be separated at source to be able to create value, or to maintain the value integrity of those materials.” She also described how cultural norms reinforce material recovery. In Malaysia, for instance, cardboard boxes have monetary value and cannot simply be taken from stores.
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Image: Watto Photos/shutterstock.com
Council responds to illegal waste dumping By Inside Waste
PP: 100024538
ISSN 1837-5618
A panel at the recent Waste Expo Australia in Melbourne discussed issues surrounding the illegal dumping of rubbish – a problem that is becoming an issue with serial dumpers in many industries trying to circumvent the law and avoid fees that accompany the disposal of waste streams. Not only does dumping cost ratepayers to clean up the mess, but the perpetrators can find themselves facing the wrath of the court system, which can offer up some hefty fines. Martin Taylor Mayor of the City of Whittlesea; James Vincent, manager, regional RID program, Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation; Phillip McNeice, project coordinator, Problem Waste, Hunter Joint Organisation; and Lisa Roach, city dumping prevention officer, Canterbury Bankstown, sat on the panel to examine the growing problem of illegal waste dumping and the local government responses being deployed. The discussion made clear that what was once treated