The secret facility extracting gold from electronic waste
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Recycling

The secret facility extracting gold from electronic waste

Metallurgists are extracting gold,silver and copper as they hunt through your e-waste for precious metals.

  • byCaitlin Fitzsimmons

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How the NSW plastic strategy could change your daily takeaway coffee
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Plastic

How the NSW plastic strategy could change your daily takeaway coffee

Forcing cafes to accept reusable cups,banning the release of helium balloons and phasing out plastic lollipop sticks are among ideas the government is considering.

  • byCaitlin Fitzsimmons
‘Insidious pollutant’:The microplastic hotspots in Sydney Harbour revealed

‘Insidious pollutant’:The microplastic hotspots in Sydney Harbour revealed

Manly Cove is one of the worst hotspots in Australia,with every square metre of sand containing more than a thousand tiny particles of plastic.

  • byCaitlin Fitzsimmons
‘We can no longer limp along’:Plans for plastic packaging shakeup

‘We can no longer limp along’:Plans for plastic packaging shakeup

More than a year after the collapse of REDcycle,Australian industry and government can’t agree on how to collect our sea of soft plastics,let alone what to do with it.

  • byBianca Hall andCaitlin Fitzsimmons
Big business calls on government to police tide of plastic packaging
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Recycling

Big business calls on government to police tide of plastic packaging

The companies behind Australia’s biggest consumer brands are calling for regulation of recycling and packaging to ensure consistency between the states and territories,and ensure laggards don’t benefit from cheaper costs.

  • byCaitlin Fitzsimmons
‘A lucrative business’:Why 730 tonnes of tyres have been seized in Australia in the past year

‘A lucrative business’:Why 730 tonnes of tyres have been seized in Australia in the past year

Illegal exports of Australia’s waste,including tyres,are in high demand by international manufacturers,to create fuel oil for further plastics manufacturing.

  • byAmber Schultz
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‘I’ve still got my mother-in-law’s Mixmaster’:Inside Sydney’s dying breed of repair shops

‘I’ve still got my mother-in-law’s Mixmaster’:Inside Sydney’s dying breed of repair shops

As tinkers and cobblers dwindle in number,and goods are easier to replace than repair,some businesses are bucking the trend.

  • byJulie Power
Cycling’s dirty secret:300,000 bikes a year dumped in landfill
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Recycling

Cycling’s dirty secret:300,000 bikes a year dumped in landfill

The frenzy of bicycle purchases during the early COVID-19 pandemic is about to make the problem even worse. But one Sydney group has rescued almost 11,000 bikes from landfill.

  • byCaitlin Fitzsimmons
Test results are in on asbestos in parks as reports continue to rise

Test results are in on asbestos in parks as reports continue to rise

The environmental regulator has revealed more reports of potential asbestos,this time in Williamstown,Altona and Sunshine West,with priority testing under way.

  • byMelissa Cunningham
NSW,Victoria ‘laggards’ as WA races ahead in banning plastic coffee cups

NSW,Victoria ‘laggards’ as WA races ahead in banning plastic coffee cups

While Western Australian imposed a ban on single-use coffee cups on Friday,eastern states are being accused of dragging their feet on reducing plastic waste.

  • byNick O'Malley andHamish Hastie
Concrete replacement:The Melbourne invention turning toxic soil into bricks

Concrete replacement:The Melbourne invention turning toxic soil into bricks

Scientists say the chemical polymer can not only turn toxic waste into harmless bricks,but it could also be cheaper and stronger than normal concrete.

  • byChris Vedelago