News and Media

How government rebates help drive recycling initiatives

We have a long way to go in achieving a perfect recycling rate, and one way in which governments can help boost recycling is by providing rebates for particular activities. And, as it happens, recycling doesn’t even need to be the primary target of the rebates involved. Save energy, boost recycling Several state governments operate rebate-based schemes that help householders and businesses become more efficient in their use of energy. The main schemes are: Victorian Energy Efficiency T…

Tasmanian regulators turn attention to mercury levels in water

Many Tasmanian dentists may be unaware that they are defined as “commercial trade waste generators”. The problem is dental amalgam. EPA Tasmania regulated that, from 1 October 2008, dental practices must employ dental amalgam separators. Since then, dentists have been required to keep mercury waste out of waterways, so the installation of amalgam separators in dental practices has been mandatory for more than 8 years. Yet, through a combination of lack of awareness among the dental profess…

How can I recycle my old computer?

Australia has a pretty poor record when it comes to recycling computers. Only about 10% get recycled, (and only about 1% of TVs), which adds up to a lot of electronic waste (e-waste) going to landfill. It defies common sense. At the point in the product life cycle when it is easiest and cheapest to recover the maximum value from waste, computers get mixed in with all sorts of other stuff and dumped in a hole in the ground. The big problem then is that toxic-heavy metals, including le…

Why receptionists hold the power to drive recycling initiatives in Australian businesses

As a receptionist you’ll often know more about what is going on in a business than most employees (maybe even more than the boss). Each day you greet your colleagues and clients, delivery people and service providers. You answer the phone, and may even screen calls (particularly those annoying sales ones). On top of that you may be the office administrator, photocopier expert, and manager of the office stationery cabinet. What’s this got to do with recycling? Well, for one thing, you’ll…

Why big businesses should care if their electrical contractors recycle

Imagine you’re a facilities manager for a large company. It’s time to replace all the light globes in one of your major warehouses. So you get a couple of electrical contractors to give you a quote. Both offer similar quality lighting products, quick service to minimise business disruption, and clean-up and removal of all waste. There are just two differences between them: Contractor A will charge a bit more than Contractor B; and Contractor A will provide a certificate of recycling t…

How Ecocycle works with other recycling companies and programs

The recycling industry is a bit like an ecosystem. It’s made up of a wide range of ‘species’, each of which occupies its own niche, eating a particular type of ‘food’ and producing waste that is ‘food’ for other ‘species’. In the recycling ecosystem the ‘species’ are companies, government departments and other organisations. ‘Food’ is the recyclable materials and, in a perfect recycling ecosystem, there is no waste – just further raw materials that other species can use. Just as in a na…

Why recycling programs in schools are so important in driving change

The lessons we learn in school can lay the habits of a lifetime, and among the more important lessons we can teach our children is the nitty-gritty of recycling. Recycling needn’t be an add-on to the day’s learning. It can be easily integrated into a range of subjects, with its practical and hands-on nature helping to provide relevance to topics that many students may find a bit abstract. Existing programs a good start There is plenty of support available. For example, Zero Waste South Aust…

Australian businesses that don’t recycle face costly losses

12,500,000 tonnes – that’s the amount of waste generated by Australian businesses every year. It’s estimated that 70% of that waste can be reused or recycled, but nearly half (46%) of it goes to landfill. That’s three million tonnes of waste unnecessarily going to landfill each year. A new resource from Planet Ark, The Business Case for Less Waste, looks at both the monetary and other benefits reaped by businesses that tackle their waste problems. It also contains case studies highlight…

Ecocycle joins Exitcycle and Lighting Council Australia in panel discussion

Ecocycle Business Development Manager, Mr Daryl Moyle, recently presented to the battery recycling industry at a Lighting Council of Australia (LCA) hosted panel discussion. The focus of the discussion was on how to lift the rate of battery recycling under the LCA’s industry-led battery recycling program Exitcycle. The initiative aims to increase the recycling rate of batteries from emergency lighting in commercial buildings. Currently, less than 10 per cent of batteries removed from th…

How do I recycle old computer monitors?

The most rapidly growing class of waste is electronic waste (e-waste), and old computer monitors (and TVs) make up a significant fraction of our tech trash. Traditionally, most of these old monitors ended up either being buried in landfill or exported to countries with poor health and environmental policies, either for rudimentary recycling or dumping. With old computer monitors containing toxic materials such as lead, mercury, chromium and cadmium, they represent something of a time bomb …

Ecocycle accredited across quality, safety and environmental management standards

Ecocycle recently achieved accreditation under AS/NZS 5377, the Australian and New Zealand management system standard that applies to the collection, storage, transport and treatment of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste). Ecocycle is now accredited under all of the safety, quality and environmental management systems that are relevant to its activities. These are: AS/NZS 4801: Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems ISO 9001: Quality Management Systems ISO 14001…

What can cinemas recycle?

Think of ‘cinemas’ and ‘recycling’ and the obvious things that come to mind are popcorn buckets and soft drink bottles. Coffee cups and choc-top wrappers also make up a large proportion of the waste generated by cinemas. But beyond these day-in-day-out waste streams there are other, more durable items that cinema managers should be recycling at the end of their working lives. This is about more than just reducing the volume of waste going to landfill. It’s a vital part of efforts to keep toxic m…

What can retailers recycle?

It’s hard to imagine any kind of civilisation without retailing. It’s a foundation of our economy, employing well over a million Australians, and provides every one of us with the necessities and desires of life. One result of all this activity is the generation of large quantities of waste comprising everything from plastic wrap to cardboard cartons, food waste and disposable takeaway containers, lighting, old point-of-sale machines, shop fittings and much more. Small retailers may nee…

Ecocycle applauds UK’s lead in banning microbeads

The UK government has banned the manufacture of products containing microbeads – small particles of plastic that have been used in products such as facial scrubs, cosmetics and toothpaste. The problem is that these particles get flushed down the drain and end up in our oceans where fish and other animals eat them. The results can be deadly, and there’s even the risk that microbeads will end up on our dinner plates. The United States banned microbeads in 2015. In contrast, Australia opte…

Ecocycle accepted as partners of UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

In further recognition of its commitment to preventing the many adverse consequences of mercury pollution, Ecocycle has been accepted as a partner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global Mercury Partnership. To date, Ecocycle is the only Australian organisation to become a program partner. The Global Mercury Partnership is a sub-program of the UN Environment Chemicals and Waste Branch, which seeks to facilitate global action so countries can achieve the clean production, …

6 things that medical (and dental) clinics can recycle

Medical clinics are dedicated to improving health, but in the process they sometimes need to use items that contain hazardous materials. It’s therefore critical that health facilities understand what the hazards are, and ensure that they are managed in a safe way. Front of mind will be things like sharps and potentially infectious materials, but in medical and dental clinics there are other wastes that need to be carefully disposed of. Fortunately, effective and safe recycling options exist f…

How FluoroCycle and Ecocycle are recycling mercury lights in Australia

Mercury that accumulates in landfill can be extremely damaging – it converts to toxic methylmercury and extends to the wider environment through air, water and soil. And one of the biggest culprits of contributing mercury to landfill is fluorescent lighting. Even though the mercury within a single fluorescent tube is minimal and unlikely to cause mercury poisoning, it’s the accumulation of these tubes in landfill that is most damaging. About 90-95% of mercury-containing lighting waste i…

How to recycle thermostats, thermometers and sphygmomanometers

When you last had your blood pressure measured, how was it done? Automatic, digital devices are increasingly taking over this task but there are still large numbers of old sphygmomanometers (that’s what devices used to measure blood pressure are called) doing good service in medical clinics and hospitals around the world. Many of these older devices contain quite large amounts of mercury, so when upgrade time rolls around it’s critical that they are safely recycled and the mercury recovered. …

Lessons learned from old landfills: Why we need to recycle

Unlike true love, rubbish dumps don’t last forever. However, some of their contents do, and when a landfill starts to leak or erode, nasty stuff can make it out into the wider environment and become impossible to contain. In Victoria alone, dozens of old landfills are already suspected of leaking toxic materials into soil and waterways. In Port Fairy, coastal erosion is exposing an old rubbish dump, depositing the contents onto an otherwise pristine beach and creating a multi-million dollar h…

Ecocycle's certificate for Hume Business Awards 2016

Ecocycle named finalist in Hume Business Awards 2016

We are pleased to share that Ecocycle was selected as a finalist in the Hume City Council Business Awards 2016, held on December 8. Ecocycle was recognised for their sustainability practices within the municipality. The awards recognise and acknowledge businesses from Hume City for their excellence and for the significant contribution they make to the local economy. According to the Hume City Council, Hume City’s businesses support the economic prosperity of the region by providing empl…

How hospitals can drive recycling programs

Hospitals are among our most important institutions, but in working to restore and maintain health, they create large amounts of waste. In Victoria, public hospitals produce as much waste as 200,000 households. Add in private hospitals and the sector, in just one state, generates as much waste as a medium-sized city. Natural leaders Hospitals need to be natural leaders when it comes to recycling and the safe disposal of hazardous waste. After all, it makes no sense to take care of patien…

Five ways recycling can boost your business

Research by the NSW EPA into the waste and recycling activities and attitudes of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) reveals that businesses recognise a number of benefits of recycling. According to the Business Recycling/Planet Ark report, understanding the attitudes towards waste and recycling was vital in determining how to reduce the large volumes of waste being sent to landfill. It also highlighted several benefits of recycling and why businesses choose to recycle. Here are five ways …

Could dentists be Australia’s biggest mercury polluters?

Last year a major water utility was outed as Australia’s biggest dumper of mercury. In the course of one year it discharged 40kg of mercury waste into the sea from its outfall pipes at Manly and Malabar in New South Wales. Earlier, it had been discovered that sharks caught off the NSW coast contained high levels of mercury, including some species that are often eaten as fish and chips. While it may not be possible to prove that the major water utility’s discharges are responsible for th…

How workplace recycling can save your business money

Running an active recycling program in your workplace will not only help to reduce your impact on the environment, it can save your business money too. According to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria, improving resource efficiency in your business can help it to save money, improve occupational health and safety management, enhance shareholder relations and improve your business’ reputation. There are a number of ways in which recycling can save your businesses money, or e…

New truck to collect and transfer materials for recycling

We've acquired a new, custom-built truck at Ecocycle. The truck, which is currently being used in Western Australia, will collect materials for recycling and safely transport them to our recycling facility. We'll be looking to roll out more trucks across the country in the future.…

Gold and mercury: A lethal mix

We’ve known for at least 200 years that mercury is a poisonous metal that causes horrific health problems, and even death. Yet, this critical information isn’t being made available to many of the people who are exposed to the highest levels of mercury. Artisanal gold miners, often poor and operating illegally, use mercury to separate small amounts of gold from crushed rock. The mercury-gold mix is then heated over open fires to vapourise the mercury, leaving behind pure gold. This dangerou…

How EXITCYCLE and Ecocycle are recycling batteries from building exit signs

Illuminated exit signs are a critical safety feature of most commercial buildings. If the power goes out or in an emergency, the light from these signs may truly be a lifesaver. However, emergency and exit lighting does have a dark side. About 90% of the batteries that power these lights are nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd), meaning they are amongst the most hazardous of all batteries. Cadmium is the big problem. An estimated five million Ni-Cd batteries containing about 90 tonnes of this toxic h…

How social media is changing the face of recycling

Be genuine One thing to pay attention to: not only are millennials monitoring the messages put out by companies; social media provides access to information from insiders and environmental organisations. Unlike traditional media, social media operates in two directions. Users can ask questions, seek recommendations and get answers like never before, and any hint of ‘greenwashing’ can undo years of effort in building a good image. Ideal partners As a specialist recycling company, Ecocycle i…

Indian board directed to dispose of compact fluorescent lamps responsibly

An Indian NGO, Toxic Links, has had success in its efforts to tackle mercury pollution from lighting waste. Presenting a case to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Toxic Links contended that current treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDFs) were not adequately equipped to deal with compact fluorescent lamps and other mercury bearing lighting. The result is that the NGT has directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB ) to consider the upgrade of TSDFs. The CPCB must take …

Why it’s important to have and maintain an amalgam separator

Amalgam separators are simple, non-mechanical devices that sit within the drainage systems of dental practices. As their name implies, the purpose of an amalgam separator is to trap waste dental amalgam and separate it from wastewater that can then be safely discharged to the sewers. With mercury contamination a big enough problem to give rise to a United Nations convention, amalgam separators play a critical role in reducing mercury pollution. While there are dental clinics already fitted…