An article regarding reducing waste.
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I agree. And there is potential to include glass milk bottles in the container deposit/refund schemes or collection by retailers to encourage their reuse. The deposit used could be higher than say the 10c used under the schemes…say 50c which would make a undamaged bottle valuable and worthy of being returned.
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For those who are interested, the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia has released its November Report on the current situation in Victoria.
Key findings in the November bulletin include:
- Export of kerbside recyclables are continuing to fall because of international import restrictions.
- Sorting of kerbside recyclables has resumed at the Laverton and Coolaroo facilities now that Cleanaway has taken over ownership from SKM.
- Contamination rates in kerbside recycling are reported to be increasing.
- Less recycled glass is being used in new products due to the suspension of operations at Glass Recovery Services who are no longer receiving glass from kerbside sources.
It is positive that Cleanaway has taken over SKM operations which has allowed recycling stream processing to recommence. It is however very disturbing that even with all the media attention in relation to contamination in the recycling collection stream, that the level of contamination is increasing. This is a real disappointment as it reflects poorly on all Victorian consumers.
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Thanks, @phb
The best guide I have found is what the local council recycling depot will put in a bin or pile other than the ‘too landfill’ bin.
Zero plastics. Clean cardboard they don’t seem to mind if boxes are still stapled or plastic tape secured. Just need to flatten or crush them to maximise volume in the cardboard bin.
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A good news story regarding a young Sydney couple planning to pay for their wedding and their honeymoon using the NSW container deposit scheme.
Great stuff.
PS. Victorian couples need not apply.
Perspectives on the downsides of waste-to-energy.
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Recycling us:
and solar panels:
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Not so worried about the composting but the recycling of the panel components I see as a very important step, I hope that is very successful.
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Read recently that those little plastic labels on fruit can go to REDcycle (who recycle soft plastics). Simply stick the label to a reasonable size piece of soft plastic that you are already going to send to REDcycle (REDcycle bins at Coles et al). Just don’t put too many of them on the one piece of plastic as that would increase the odds of one or more the falling off and getting stuck in machinery.
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But why make them of plastic at all? After all, they’re on biodegradable goods.
It seems single-use products have been with us for some time:
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Malaysia says “Return To Sender”.
A while back, I came upon a beer bottle in the bush. Nothing unusual in that, except that moulded into the bottle is the legend “This bottle is the property of the NSW Bottle Company Pty Ltd”. The bottom is dated 1964.
A little digging turned up some history:
and this from 1918 on Trove:
Apparently, the bottles are now collectables. A recent ebay listing values one at $(Au)9.00.
It seems to me that our economy was probably healthier (for the environment) in the heyday of the NSW Bottle Comany.
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Back in the days of the 26 fluid oz “tallie” beer bottles, almost all of them were marked with a brand and a statement that the bottle remained the property of the particular company.
The house we first lived in in Cairns when i was young had a large stack of them when we moved in and I progressively took them to the bottle dealer to receive the princely sum of 6 pence per dozen until I got to the last of them which were a few odd ones which the dealer had no arrangement with and would not buy.
I recall that one was Batlow something or other, and until the recent bushfires, I did not know where Batlow was.
The clear 26 fluid oz and later 1 litre clear soft drink bottles were much better as the refund progressed over the years from 6 pence to 10 cents to 20 cents each before being replaced with single use plastics.
And you only had to take them to any retailer of the soft drink brand to get the refund.
I would be surprised if you find any undamaged examples or them in the bush.
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It’s good to see a positive step from a local government.
It makes one wonder.
Should our councils step up to the plate and accept more direct responsibility for how our waste is managed?
Should the list of what they will accept in general waste bins be restricted to only what is environmentally acceptable, and all else banned from landfill, EG zero plastics/polymers, no polystyrene or foams etc.
There is also a state government responsibility through their respective environmental legislation. You can only bury what the state allows.
Unfortunately the problem remains that our local government waste services bury plastics etc. Further they do not have facilities to accept for recycling all household wastes.
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More reuse than recycling. Back to the future?
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/02/old-school-plan-to-fight-plastic-pollution-gathers-steam/
And a broader vision:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/03/how-a-circular-economy-could-save-the-world-feature/
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This refers mostly to the US. I wonder whether it’s happened in Australia. There have undoubtedly been fires, but the cause?
Many years ago, a mate who drove a garbage truck told me that people sometimes dumped car batteries in the bin. They were usually detected (lots of people around, manually handling the rubbish) but, if one made it into the compactor, it could cause a fire.
We really need to get better at recycling.
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A person we know used to drive a garbage truck for the Mareeba Shire Council. He related the story of how he saw smoke billowing from the compactor one day and radioed the depot to get a fire truck to meet him at the tip.
The fire was caused by a car battery shorting against the inside of the compactor and causing flammable material to catch on fire.
Our local council allows residents to drop batteries off at the transfer station free of charge.
An article regarding the first National Plastics Summit being held at Parliament House today.
What a refreshing change to the usual garbage and artificial rubbish that normally takes place there.
“McDonald’s has already announced it is ditching its plastic straws this year, but it is expected to announce at the summit it will also ban single-use cutlery.”
When we visited the Babinda Bakery a few weeks ago, we asked for knives and forks to eat our pies with and we were provided with stainless steel ones.
It really isn’t that hard.
And a legal case in the US against Pepsi, Coke and Nestle over plastic pollution.
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Hopefully more than just hot air.
And Maccas announces phasing out plastic cutlery.
Nice idea from the EU.
They’ll need to have serious talks with Android though. Many perfectly serviceable Android 'phones are replaced simply because the operating system can’t be secured after a (short) while. Perhaps Android should be banned unless there’s a guarantee that old hardware will always be supported. Of course, something similar could be said of Apple (iOS).
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And an article regarding consumers getting better value out of their clothing.
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