Page 645 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 1990
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began my work on this committee with those preconceived judgments about big bins. Based on the evidence, I have changed my mind.
What must be stressed is that the proposed total waste management system is not merely to change from the present system of twice-weekly collections to one of once-weekly collections in a big bin. What we are looking at is the overall efficiency of a new system of domestic waste management, beginning as soon as possible with recommendations 1 and 2 of the report, as already described. At some point after that program of steady recycling has been put in place, the big bins should be given a trial in one area or one suburb to see how they interact with the overall recycling program. If that trial shows that high levels of recycling are maintainable, then and only then should the 240-litre bins be introduced throughout the ACT. The committee has evidence about the effectiveness of the use of 240-litre bins in other parts of Australia. The question is whether they would be similarly effective in the ACT.
There is also the matter of the size of available bins. The waste management industry firms which either make or import these bins have geared themselves to several sizes. Unfortunately, the 120-litre bin, which I understand is imported from Germany, is too small for effective once-weekly collections. There is nothing between that and the 240-litre bins which are manufactured in Australia. The committee might have taken the view that we should call on the industry to introduce a 180-litre bin. From the evidence before us, however, the choice was between the 120-litre and the 240-litre bins. All members of the Assembly are asked to study that matter closely because I am sure it will be of great concern all over Canberra.
Another matter which needs to be seen in its total context is the use of tips. If there were to be such a thing as a totally ideal solution to the problem of what to do with domestic waste, it would be to compost all that is compostable on site - that is, at the household - to collect all recyclables, as already suggested, and to leave non-compostables and non-recyclables to be collected as landfill garbage as part of a total collection service, thus negating the need to have householders visit the tip. In other words, the tip would be the final deposit point for all the non-recyclable garbage to be looked after by the people who are responsible for the tip. Would you please note paragraph 3 on page (ix) of the report which stresses that efficient and successful waste management depends on cutting down on excessive wasteful and counterproductive visits to the tip by private vehicles.
Part and only part of the strategy to cut down on excessive use of tips is the collection of recyclables at the kerbside of households and the encouragement of maximum composting on site. Part and only part of the strategy to cut down on excessive use of tips is the providing of big
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