Page 2315 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 29 August 2007
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residents are great recyclers. I think people largely think, “Oh, it is okay, it is being recycled.”
Statistics show that a higher proportion than ever of our waste is being recycled. I have the graphs from the budget and also from the 2003 State of the Environment report. It is obvious that we are recycling more of our waste, but the fact is that we are producing more waste overall so, in that sense, it is not really dealing with our problem.
We now have an increasing number of products that require being thrown away. Unfortunately, in the last few years, we have seen a shift over to bottled water. We have perfectly good drinking water here. Nonetheless people, for some reason or another, are prepared to pay more for their bottled water than they would for a litre of petrol so we have a new litter product—used water bottles and other bottles. We produce energy drinks so after a fun runs we see trails of plastic bottles. We have individual yoghurt portions and our cheese slices are separately wrapped.
In our rush to improve our hygiene we are increasing our waste, something that we are doing without even thinking about it. My concern about sewage recycling is that even supporters of the recycling scheme will use that as a reason to increase their consumption of bottled water. They might not say that is why they are doing it, but I suspect that they will.
Reducing waste includes simple steps such as setting printers throughout government offices, including the Assembly, to print double-sided as a default; installing bubblers in town centres, local shops, parks and other places where people walk to reduce the demand for bottled water; and running programs to promote school canteens to stock more fresh food rather than pre-packaged food. Eating fresh fruit rather than fruit packaged in plastic not only reduces packaging; it is also healthier.
Reusing products is also very simple. It is interesting that the two members who have foreshadowed amendments to this motion are not even bothering to listen to this debate. Will they be able to add to the quality of debate after something like that? No doubt their advisers are listening. On a territory level I would like the government to reinstate container deposit legislation—I am not sure whether we ever had it in the territory; we certainly did in Victoria—which will not only provide a good income for children and other needy people but also reduce waste. South Australia still maintains a 5c container deposit.
In the domestic construction area we should ensure that all roof tiles are reused and not sent to landfill. An enormous amount of building waste is still being sent to landfill. The other day I saw the Canberra Labor Club being demolished in such a way that it would have prevented the reuse of those materials. Recycling is largely what this motion is all about. This government has simply put too many issues into the too-hard basket. If we look around the corner at some of the initiatives being taken by ANUgreen we can see that solutions do exist, and even these actions can be undertaken in Canberra.
We need to develop targets by the end of 2007 to close recycling loops and to reduce the net production of waste. I also stress the importance of ACT government
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