Michael Nicholls

🌱 Carbon-neutral is no longer a free pass for broader environmental impacts. The era of focusing solely on carbon reduction is ending.

📊 99% of Australians want a circular economy, and they are demanding the regulations to back it. Cleanaway’s newly released 2026 Recycling Behaviours Report reveals near-universal public support for hard packaging reform, based on a survey of 1,000 Australians.

🌳 Congratulations to NSW DCCEEW and the Botanic Gardens of Sydney on a major ecological milestone in the Hunter Valley. The Saving our Species team has planted approximately 3,000 genetically diverse Hunter Valley River Red Gums across the region.

💰 A record $60,000 fine for an individual, plus a clean-up bill expected to exceed $1 million. The Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court has penalised a Victorian landowner under the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) for illegal waste dumping at a Diamond Creek property.

⚠️ A record personal fine and a million-dollar clean-up liability that follows the owner even if the land is sold. The Heidelberg Magistrates Court has sentenced an individual landowner to a $60,000 fine and ordered him to pay $12,000 in legal costs.

⚖️ “This was a brazen and highly organised criminal waste dumping operation conducted on an industrial scale.”

EPA Victoria CEO Joss Crawford did not mince words following the sentencing of a Melbourne landowner at the Heidelberg Magistrates Court.

💧 “The Great Artesian Basin is one of the largest underground freshwater resources in the world and a critical pillar to Australia’s water security.”

This statement from Federal Minister Murray Watt highlights the scale of managing our regional groundwater assets.

♻️ Great to see the Queensland Government launching the new $487 million Waste Reduction and Recycling Activation Fund to accelerate circular economy infrastructure. This five-year funding package supports the newly implemented Less Landfill, More Recycling 2035: Queensland Waste Strategy.