2025-11 Ron Wainberg
Speakers
Speaker: Ron Wainberg
Topic: Managing Household Waste
Date: 24th November 2025
Ron Wainberg is a waste management consultant with a particular interest in resource recovery from waste materials, the development of practical waste management strategies, and how processing technology can be successfully applied to recover resources from wastes. With over 30 years’ experience in the waste sector, Ron specialises in project and contract management, waste management strategies, waste processing technologies, resource recovery, technical advice and quality review. He is currently the Technical Director at MRA Consulting and has been involved in a significant number of studies and advisory services for the waste sector, either directly leading the work or providing technical advice and a quality review. Earlier, he worked at Hyder Consulting in Sydney as the Waste Advisory Team Leader and subsequently Technical Director for Waste. Ron was previously the Program Manager for Solid Waste Management at the CRC for Waste Management and Pollution Control based at UNSW with responsibility for Solid Waste, Site Remediation and Waste Minimisation. From 1989 to 1996, Ron served as an external director of Waste Service NSW. He has been an active member of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association since 1996 where he has served in a number of roles, including as the National President from 2009 until 2013. He currently chairs the Energy from Waste Division and was made an honorary Life Member in 2024. Ron’s qualifications are a Bachelor of Engineering and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney.
Sydney is on the verge of a waste crisis. Despite numerous measures, the generation of urban waste continues and efforts to recycle or recover materials have not reduced our need for disposal facilities. Ron's excellent presentation provided an overview of where modern waste management has come from, what the extent of the problem we are facing is, and what the options are for dealing with it.