News and Downloads

Treated Timber, Ticking Time-bomb : The Need for a Precautionary Approach to the Use of Copper Chrome Arsenate (CCA) as a Timber Preservative

Timber preserved with Copper Chrome Arsenate (CCA) is ubiquitous in Australia. Wood, such as radiata pine, is treated with CCA to protect it from insects, rot and fungus. CCA-treated timber is commonly used on telegraph poles, decking, fencing, landscaping, vineyard stakes, picnic tables and in playgrounds. However the arsenic in CCA leaches out of CCA-treated timber and arsenic is toxic and can cause cancer in the long-term. Sealants are only effective at reducing arsenic levels on the surface of the wood for about six months.
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Building code alternatives to emergency lighting:It’s no longer “glow in the dark”…..

We have all been fascinated by the greenish glow emanating from any number of toys, key chains and novelty products, lasting only for a few minutes, but resulting in that lighting occurrence called luminescence.
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A REVOLUTIONARY wood substitute

A REVOLUTIONARY wood substitute produced in Somerton has won an award in an episode of ABC TV's The New Inventors.
Recycling company Close the Loop took top honours on the show earlier this month for eWood, a wood-substitute made from mixed and contaminated
plastics recycled from printer cartridges.
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"IT heavyweights tackle hazard" - The Australian

It seems like a humble thing, that little cartridge that you put in theprinter or fax machine-hardly the sort of thing to cause much of a concern to the environment, surely.
But in fact printer cartridges, like much computer hardware, present a real problem. The plastic container remainsin the environment almost permanently,
and the residue of ink or pigment -and even an "empty" cartridge retains about
10 per cent of its original contents - constitutes a significant hazard if it finds
its way into the ecosystem from a landfill site.
One Australian company is tackling this problem head-on, and with the help of
11 major IT companies, is beginning to make headway.
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EMERGENCY LIGHTING AND WAY FINDING SIGNAGE: Building Code Performance Approach

This guide is intended to outline the performance provisions of the Building Code of Australia  and  the  legislative  framework  within  Queensland  to  adopt  them. The current Australian Standard AS2293 for exit signage and emergency lighting at the last revision, way finding signage was not implemented by the current committee.It does however, in the preface, give credence to the next revision adopting such performance style exit signage.
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New environmental partnership with hi-tech recycling company

Canon Australia is marking United Nations World Environment Day on 5 June 2005 by announcing a new environmental partnership with hi-tech recycling company Close the Loop. The partnership signals the launch of Canon's bold new resource management program in which Canon's old or used consumer and business imaging products are recycled.

In Phase One of the program, Canon has commenced sending Close the Loop a wide range of end of life consumer products and cartridges that are returned to Canon's Eco Centre by its resellers. Electronic waste or "e-waste" ranges from calculators, inkjet printers and laser multifunction printers to digital still cameras, digital video cameras and binoculars.
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Some uses of CCA timber treatments to be phased out. Media Release - 15 March 2005

The national agricultural chemical regulator, the Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is moving to phase out uses of copper chrome arsenate (CCA) timber treatments that it cannot be confident are safe. The phase out is one of the conclusions contained in the final report of the APVMA’s review of arsenic timber treatments released today.
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