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!
You’d think that given a focus on the future, you’d ask specialists in the future to have some input, and whilst that didn’t occur for the PM’s Summit in Canberra over the weekend, some of Australia’s Futurists had already done the leg work to contribute their thoughts on the future of Australia. That report is…
Read More >Some of Australia’s leading futurists gathered in Melbourne in March to provide a specialist Futures approach to addressing the Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra. The outcome of that Summit and the development that subsequently followed has led to the creation of the report ‘Australia 2020 Futurists Summit’ that has worked through each of the ten…
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Read More >Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber will join Tim Cox on 774 ABC as part of the conversation hour next week Tim is filling in for Jon Faine whilst he takes a well deserved break and Marcus will join him for the conversation hour kicking off at 11am on Thursday the 13th of December, where they’ll discuss…
Read More >At the AustForesight 2007 Conference, Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber and fellow Futurist Steve Tighe presented their take on what is required to enable futurists to be seen as more relevant to the Corporate world. Drawing on their shared experience as facilitator and client, they detailed the journey of foresight and futures across the past 50…
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