The Mayor's Column
Recycling for many people in third world countries is a matter of life and death, of being able to provide an income to put food on the table for millions of poor people.
Most of the world’s rubbish is burnt, as a cheap fix, profitable to waste companies, but at great cost to the health and environment of those forced to live with the consequences.
However, many people are making a living out of scavenging and reusing what is discarded by others as garbage. For instance, in the Philippines, on the edge of Quezon City, a part of Manila, a settlement of about 10,000 people has created a solid waste management company to collect, sort and recycle waste destined for landfill. They have reduced landfill by about 75% and saved the city many thousands of dollars. Hopefully their success will teach by example.
Around the world, small businesses are being set up, many under charitable micro-lending schemes, with industrious workers designing and making usable items out of society’s throw-aways. One example was seen on a recent documentary, where one ingenious woman with a sewing machine was making smart handbags by recycling plastic coated juice containers.
We can play our part in reducing landfill, cutting green house emissions and fighting climate change.
Mosman Council conducted a survey recently and discovered that about 28% of the contents of our household garbage bins should have been recycled! Therefore Council is working to increase the size of your recycling bins and reduce the size of your garbage bin.
Our new improved service will initially focus on recycling from houses, semis and town houses, and will include:
- Replacing crates with larger capacity mobile recycling bins;
- Collection of these bins on alternate weeks (eg. paper/cardboard one week, and glass/containers the next week); and
- Adding a wider range of plastic to recycling, only excluding plastic bags and cling wrap.
Another benefit of the closed bins over the open crates we now use, will be that rain and wind won’t scatter and spoil the contents and people’s privacy will be protected.
Exemptions from using the new bins will be made to certain residents who experience difficulty. There will be lots of information about the changeover, with a letter to each household, notices in the local paper, displays in Council’s foyer, and a garbage truck with a message.
Waste reduction at home can also be aided by having a worm farm or a compost bin, available through Council.
Visit Council’s website: www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/environment or contact the waste customer support line on 9978 4076.
Cr Denise Wilton, Mayor of Mosman
