Page 537 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 June 1989
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Canberra at present has two ways of collecting garbage. One is done by private contractors, I understand, in the north of Canberra, and in the south it is done by government contractors. There is a cost factor to be considered here by the committee. I understand that the private contract system is some 20 per cent cheaper than the system of collection by the government, and that is something also I would commend this committee to examine. Finally, I would like to thank Dr Kinloch for his gift to me of this piece of recycled paper.
MS MAHER (11.29): I would just like to say that I support many of the arguments put forward today by those who have spoken. I support the motion, and as a member of the Conservation, Heritage and Environment Committee I am looking forward to dealing with this issue.
MR JENSEN (11.29): Mr Speaker, this motion is a very important one as it does two things. This very important issue of waste disposal in this consumer age is clearly reflected on the front cover of a recent issue of a popular magazine. I might suggest, Mr Speaker, if we as a society are not careful the prediction that this article implies might be a fact of life and one of the major issues facing our society in the future. "Up to our necks in garbage" - that is the problem that we may have to consider in the very near future.
I note with interest increasing concern about the effect our consumer society is having on our environment. As a young boy assisting my father in his old-style grocery store in Queensland, I well recall the days of bulk goods coming into the store in bags and tins and then being broken up and packaged by the staff. It was a practice I was happy to participate in when the packages of broken biscuits were being prepared, because they often came my way. However, all we now see are rows and rows of supermarket shelves filled with expensive cellophane and glossy paper packaging. One must often wonder how the desire for the holy dollar has contributed to this major problem. Whatever happened to the good old brown paper bag? Clearly it has gone the way of the string bag that some of us may recall.
These days we are confronted with endless numbers of plastic bags that mount up in our cupboards at home, and I am sure that the manufacturer who comes up with a reasonable and cheap way to recycle these disposable items will be on a winner. Maybe we should seek to encourage the return of the string bag, an item that goes right back in history to the hunter-gatherer societies of this world who found it most useful, particularly in this country.
These items are clearly reusable. While this may seem a small item, I would suggest that the introduction of this method of taking our groceries home is part of the overall education process about this issue - an issue that I am sure we will see take on more emphasis in our schools.
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