Disaster Ahead for the People of Ipswich
As the Ipswich Council has determined that recycling schemes are too expensive and indicates it will end collections, the question is ‘what happens next’? If result of the explosion in Tip fees by Councils around Australia is anything to go by, what happens next will not be good
China recently decided to end acting like a rubbish dump for the rest of the world’s plastic waste. To borrow from the delightful Catherine Tate, ‘How Very Dare They‘! In response, some Councils such as the Queensland located Ipswich Council have declared that ‘recyling is too expensive‘. U-huh.
Of course they won’t be alone and I’d expect others to follow suit. So let’s quickly jump ahead to what the implications of non recyling will be, taking our lead from the impact of the privatisation and closure of municipal tips. As fees rose and tips closed, greed and stupidity kicked in. Councils now deal with the deviant behavious known as ‘Midnight Dumping’. This is where asbestos filled garbage bags get dumped near child care centres; mattresses, general waste and putrescible rubbish suddenly appear in paddocks or on new estates, and your own bin get’s loaded up at night by passing cars (or neighbours).
The end result is a spike in localised clean ups, rising costs through investigations, more litigation and no end in sight for illegal #ParasiteDumping. Which is what is going to happen to plastic and glass waste.
The issue of course is less about the off loading and more about how blind Australians have been to what they were getting rid of. All that plastic and glass is a R E S O U R C E. It can be used in various forms. For Councils, they don’t even need to sort it by type.
All glass can be crushed and used in concrete. A L L O F I T. And for plastics? Look under the tyres of your car and you’ll find R O A D S. EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF PLASTIC can be shredded to make roads. It only has to be melted and mixed with aggregate. Long lasting, more impervious to damage and water ingress, flexible during heat changes so that it doesn’t crack or chip. Able to be easily and cheaply repaired if gouged or damaged. And let’s not talk about footpaths or perfectly good park benches and elaborately formed artworks or seating.
If you’re a consumer, start refilling reusable containers at point of purchase and leave the packaging behind. Yes, At The Supermarket – leave your excessive cardboard with the people who insist on it!
The issue is Not China, and it’s not the cost of recycling. It is the complete failure to see this as a product resource for the basics of Council infrastructure. Councils ending recycling schemes? How Very Dare They!
If you’ve seen any of the media campaigns for the Australian Federal Election you could have come to the following conclusions: Julia Gillard had a fixation with hand getsures; Tony Abbott had a fixation on Boats; and the Greens had the best Television Commercial not only of this campaign but of any other they’ve had…
Read More >If you’ve been following any of the mainstream media election coverage here in Australia (stuff in the usual papers, radio and TV programs) you’ve no doubt got a good understanding of what is going to happen on election day. The mainstream media synopsis thus far is that a) Julia Gillard got off to a good…
Read More >This great little cartoon/graphic says it all and although looking at the subject of Universities, there is much that we can all learn Here’s the Graphic. If your website spends all its time talking about you, and no time talking about the customer, how do you think your customers (and prospective customers) feel? I…
Read More >A series of recent activities has me writing on the idea of ‘future strategy’ and how different organisations are approaching their future development. What is interesting is the strong sense that preparing for your potential future requires multiple paths forward, not a single ‘home run’. To that end I’ve recently considered sporting bodies and local…
Read More >Stephen Downes is one the handful of bloggers I follow consistently. I do so because Downes (unlike many others unfortunately) like to write about his thinking AS WELL AS promoting the thinking of others, whether or not he agrees with them. In that way you get a solid collection of alternative views within his field…
Read More >Coming off what has been undoubtedly my busiest period (3 months) in the past decade, I’m in the throws of catching up on some light reading. I usually have at least two books on the go and my preference is for the books to be about diverse topics because it allows the mind to seek…
Read More >Every now and again you have an opportunity to listen to some rare insights to an industry sector. These opportunities are typically rare because the insights need to come from someone who not only ‘knows their stuff’, they need to be able to translate their knowledge in a way that the average person in the…
Read More >The ‘Supertax’ debate is an interesting one and as expected, both parties are heavily invested in their own outcomes. One thing the Mining Companies understand is that the tax will lower the size of their profits in boom times for the resources sector – they’ll still be raking in billions, its just that some of…
Read More >As more organisations look to gain an understanding of how to both identify and prepare for their potential and desired futures, Design Thinking is on the current radar screen as a skill set likely to provide significant value. On the 25th to 27th of may you can attend a highly interactive and practical conference on…
Read More >One of the current affairs TV programs did a story recently on the efforts by NSW police to crack down on ‘hoon’ drivers through a specific squad targeting them. The Victorian Police recently announced a similar project with the squad headed up by one of Victoria Police’s most effective senior officers, Inspector Bernie Rankin. Unusually…
Read More >