In addition to collecting bottles and newspapers, we also used to visit the various landfill dump sites to salvage copper, brass and lead to sell to the scrap metal dealers. Occasionally we would find piles of diecast printing plates for advertising that had been dumped by some business which the bait and tackle shop would buy for casting sinkers, along with the lead heads from the old style roofing nails which we would collect from renovation and demolition sites.
But the best and easiest was sorting through the pre-decimal currency coins for any that had a collectable value. We would start by getting a roll each of the highest denomination value coins we could afford and then rummaging through them, keeping any collectable ones, and going to another bank to exchange the remainder for another roll of coins, until either we did not have enough leftovers to exchange or the tellers told us to rack off.
An elderly man who lived in the next street was an avid coin collector and he would buy all the collectable coins we brought to him at their book value. He even had a 1930 penny and a 1938 florin that he showed to us.
It is great to see that there is someone that values resource recovery.
I was only discussing this with friends on the weekend that this practice has disappeared with the invent of modern, cleaner waste transfer stations.
I even joked that image collecting at a waste transfer station and being heavier when leaving than arriving (in Brisbane one is weighed entering and leaving to determine weight of waste disposed)âŠwould the local authority pay you on leaving?
Yes. Our local Council eradicated the practice by firstly providing a contractor with scavenging rights, then by Council staff policing the landfill sites and finally by introducing the waste transfer stations so that the Council gets to keep it all themselves.
The old lead head roofing nails are long gone as well as the diecast printing plates and the pre-decimal currency coins.
But at least there will now again be an opportunity for enterprising kids to generate very good pocket money and/or savings.
I suppose the easy answer if you are bothered by this is âŠdonât buy soft drinks. The price increase that occured when NSW brought in the recycling charge did not affect me for that reason - I donât buy the product!
And just as an aside, there were very few collection points where I live and most of those threw in the towel because it was so badly managed the collectors were overrun with empties that were never picked up. Add to that that the only acceptable containers was so complicated to understand it is really not worth the effort of seeking out a collection centre, when we can still put the lot into our recycling bins!
The ACT has just introduced a bottle-return scheme (of sorts). Details available here â https://www.actcds.com.au/
Dan Murphyâs, owned by Woolworths, jacked up their price of a case of 12 one-pint bottles of Magners Cider from $70 to $77 because (they say) of the schemeâs introduction. At 10 cents a bottle refund â if the bottles are returnable at all, which seems to be in some doubt â this means an additional cost of $1.20/case, not $7.
Who pays the extra 10%? Me. Who pockets most of the extra? Woolworths. And they get the whole lot if I choose not to return the bottles or if in fact the scheme wonât accept one-pint bottles at all. 
A typically bad way to do. We need a Royal Commission on our governments integrity, honesty, and ability to put our interests ahead of their own and businessesâ. What would be the chance? I suspect it would make the banking RC look benign in comparison.
It looks like the ACT has higher alcohol beverage prices than Brisbane:
The differences could be through the different State/Territory licensing and permitting requirements, including corresponding fees, charges and levies.
I donât drink Magners regularly (maybe once every few years) and dontt know if Queenslandâs prices have also recently gone up. If they had, then the 10% may have included a price increase and also the container levy. Maybe a regular Queensland Magners drinker would know if the standard retail (viz. not on sale) price has changed recently.
You mention that â(they say) of the schemeâs introductionâ. Was this someone in store or a response/information from Dan Murphy (such as on their website or through correspondence). I have come not to rely on information from any retail floor staff as they possibly will blame one thing, when in fact it could be something different or more than what they indicate. If it was floor staff, it may be worth contacting Dan Murphy directly using the information on their website to see what their response is to the price rise. You can also use the above screen dump to ask why for that particular product, the ACT is more expensive than Queensland.
It is also worth noting that if it also includes a product price rise (not a change in ACT licensing and permits), this price rise could be trigger by the imported/distributer. This happens to be Coca Cola Amatil. So any price rise maybe going to CCA rather than Woolworths if Woolworths has only passed on the wholesale increased costs.
If it was imported by Woolwroths directly, it would have been through Pinnacle Drinks, which they fully own. Their imported products also usually contain that it is imported or produced on behalf of Pinnacle.
⊠we really do have way too much âgovernmentâ in Australia âŠ
If we quartered the number of pollies in offices it would still probably be excessively high by world standards vs our population, and look at how unemployment would skyrocket! Not that most of our pollies do not deserve to meet with Centrelink.
We could easily do away with States, Hawke has the right idea, all the nonsense about the benefits of State governments is fuelled by self-interest.
You will be excited to know that from now on you can buy biodegradable bags to pick up your doggie mess. Consider this expenditure as your private green tax as your way to say sorry for all the pollution you have caused over the years.
The other option it to collect some bags from rolls provided in the fruit and vegetable section (say if and when you purchase any fruit and/vegetables). These would work a treat.
And they are even thinner, just what you need to transfer warmth to your hands on a cold winter day at the dog park.
Our local Council used to have dispensers of âdoggy bagsâ mounted on poles at the edge of many parks, one of which I regularly drive past.
However, they did not provide any bins so the used bags would be left at the base of the pole.
Instead of installing bins, they removed the poles and dispensers.
Probably not the smartest solution.
My wife and I started collecting bottles in advance of the ACTâs deposit scheme. Then, as the scheme came close to launch it was clear that we would spend more money on petrol than we would get back from the scheme - not to mention the time cost. The ACT has designed a terrible scheme with limited collection locations; it should require supermarkets to act as collection locations, given their role in the sale of bottles and the infrastructure they already have in place that would make returns easy to aggregate.
Yes indeed. The SA scheme was well-designed, it had a relatively high value per bottle (5c 40 years ago was quite decent) and it is now ingrained in the culture. If I recall correctly, one could also return bottles very easily - in supermarkets and such.
For other states to get such a scheme going properly they should be looking at a deposit of from $0.20 to $0.50/bottle.
My father-in-law used to work for the council, and my future wife loved going to the tip with him to see what they could scrounge. He was very handy at fixing what they found, too!
Then of course it became âtoo dangerousâ, and so scavenging rights were sold to a private entity.
Those were the days.
Another great article about âthe fresh food peopleâ.
Thatâs why I pick Coles and Supa IGA.
I wouldnât be too worried. Humans eat a lot of insects and insect fragments each year. It is often out of sight and out of mind, but we all consume significant amounts.
https://www.rd.com/food/fun/how-many-insects-do-you-eat-a-year/
Often vegans avoid figs as they all contain the remains of female wasp, albeit a decomposed one.
Meat also contains many living things other than the host animal meatâŠand is why it is recommended to be cooked so that we consume a deactivated potential pathogen rather one that may do harm.
I should also mention that there is an emerging market for insect based protein products for human consumption. A former lecture of mine, Dr Neil Menzies has been advocating the consumption of insect/insect products. From what I recall of the information he has presented, insects are highly efficient at making protein (one of the highest compared to all living things) and maybe should be harvested instead of sprayed.
If one has travelled to the more exotic parts of Asia, one will often see insects for sale and for human consumption.
Maybe one day we will say âthrow another thrip on the BBQâ?
What can you expect from a Corporation that steals their employees wages. Of course they will steal from everybody else. Itâs like their wonderful specials that they advertise in their brouchures then when you go to the store to buy that special they have none. They make up some lame excuse. Getting customers into their stores under false pretenses
.
Welcome to the forum @Phillip1,
While there are few if any excuses for underpaying wages, having been in senior management positions in a smaller company I well remember the dogs breakfast of awards and wage determinations. Even though we were a âsmall businessâ with mostly a range of technical/scientific specialists, it was almost an award/determination for every 2 or 3 of us.
Our HR manager went to great lengths is convince the company which were applicable to which of us but sometimes they often brought in a consulting opinion who had a difference of opinion, having a lower wage range.
It is what capitalism is about. Minimising wages and expenses and maximising income and profits. That employees get done over is seen as not more than an unintended consequence at many companies who try to, and think they are, doing the right thing in an overly complex system.
One might expect companies to err on the side of caution rather on the side of âlowest wage optionsâ but shareholders often do not agree and the pressure for profits and growth are ever present. That so many companies are being outed is as much a reflection on the complexity of the system as on anything, the system being the awards, determinations, and the basic workings of capitalism itself.
For me the more serious issue is how small as well as some not so small companies and individual proprietors scrimp on payroll as well as avoid their superannuation responsibilities. The latter is not an oops as is picking an incorrect award/determination, it is clearly against the tax laws but how many have been prosecuted and jailed for it? How many businesses wind up without having properly paid in the system?
If you are not aware, while it is an irritant you can always ask for a ârain checkâ to get the special when stock arrives.
I have been in management of a medium sized company (~1000 employees) and staff were either on state award, federal award, individual employee agreements, enterprise agreements, management contracts, contractor agreements, casual or part time rates and the list goes on. Then every year there were either legislated increases or percentage increases within the agreements. These increases also varied. Every one of these were different and even managing a team of about 20, I could never easily work out who was getting what and what âŠand had to resort to advice from the HR and payrol teams.
Many medium to large businesses are the same and the current employment arrangement are a dogs breakfast. I can sympathise with those business which get it wrongâŠpossibly unintentionally due to a large number of arrangements in place or though ongoing external changes.
