News Round
Welcome to EPA Connect’s information marketplace with news of events, grants, community outreach and other EPA activities, including Plastic Free July.
New organic grants will help industry, local councils and the community to manage household waste
Better management of our household waste
Local government and the waste industry have welcomed new funding to help manage household waste into the future.
“Councils want to work with the NSW and Commonwealth Governments to boost our recycling, minimise waste and build a circular economy; this is an important step towards that goal,” LGNSW President Linda Scott said.
Funding applications now open include the $12.5million Organics Collection program.
81-year-old Bob Jolley, Return and Earn champion from Wentworth NSW
Octogenarian Eco-Warrior wins 2020 NSW Environmental Citizen of the Year Award
Eighty-one-year-old eco-warrior Bob Jolley from the south-west Riverina region has been announced as the State winner of the 2020 NSW Environmental Citizen of the Year Award, which coincided with World Environment Day on 5 June.
“This award is all about acknowledging and celebrating those who make a real difference in our local communities. Bob has proved age is no barrier when it comes to protecting the environment,” Environment Minister Matt Kean said.
“Bob estimates that he’s collected more than 294,000 bottles and cans that that might have ended up in landfill, and has cashed them in through Return and Earn to raise money for local causes in his town of Wellington, NSW.
“Bob proactively raised more than $25,000 for his local skatepark and other community programs in the Wentworth Shire by collecting bottles and cans for recycling,” Mr Kean said.
The NSW Environmental Citizen of the Year Award celebrates community champions, everyday individuals and organisations working towards bettering the environment through litter reduction or implementing local environmental initiatives.
Help reduce plastic waste by getting involved in Plastic Free July!
Join EPA to take the Plastic Free July challenge!
The EPA’s Engagement and Education team is urging staff and their networks to participate in Plastic Free July by taking the challenge to reduce their own plastic use this July, and maybe even start a new lifelong habit.
Plastic Free July is an organisation and global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.
Some top tips include refusing plastic straws, swapping liquid soap for bar soap, taking your own mesh fruit and veggie bags when shopping, giving up plastic wrap and using re-useable containers or beeswax wraps.
You can join the challenge by going to the Plastic Free July website.
Environmental regulators conference draws delegates from 30 countries
Over 300 delegates representing national and international regulators attended AELERT's conference in Adelaide
The NSW EPA is the outgoing co-ordinating agency for the Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulators network (AELERT) – the interjurisdictional working group involving all key environmental regulators across Australia.
In their final project as co-ordinator, the EPA team hosted the group’s biannual conference in March in Adelaide and through a partnership with INECE, the conference became an international drawcard.
“Around 20 per cent of our audience were international delegates, flying in from countries such as Thailand and Morocco and in total we had over 330 delegates with representation from over 30 countries!” AELERT’s Communications Manager Felicity Harvey said.
“This broadened the opportunity across the international community to cooperate and build capacity in ways that are rarely possible for environmental regulators.
New national plan for PFAS released
The PFAS National Environmental Management Plan version 2.0 for managing PFAS chemical contamination provides new and revised guidance around environmental guideline values, soil reuse, wastewater management, on-site containment of PFAS contamination and some minor editorial updates.The guidelines are an important tool to help councils, environmental consultants and other affected stakeholders right across Australia investigate the issue in a consistent way.
PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They are a group of man-made chemicals that have been widely used in industrial and consumer products since the mid-1900s. PFAS are highly fire resistant and used to be common ingredients in firefighting foams.
Events coming up
- 1-31 July – Plastic-free July
- 31 July – Schools Tree Day
- 2 August – National Tree Day
- 15-23 August - National Science Week
- 17-23 August - Keep Australia Beautiful Week