Page 3845 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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It is true, quite true, that big bins do encourage waste. The volume of waste passing through the system increases with big bins and we have to have a strategy for minimising that if we are going to have big bins. I would like to know whether we could develop that comprehensive strategy before we go down the path of a comprehensive system of big bins in Canberra. It is also true, of course, that the savings from big bins are very substantial. Members of the committee will recall the very large manpower savings made by councils like Ku-Ring-Gai in Sydney from the advent of big bins there and, what is more, the very high acceptance of that new system, even from older members of that municipality, when they were introduced.
The second issue I want to touch on, Mr Deputy Speaker, is the question of biodegradable shopping bags, which Mrs Grassby mentioned. I have to say that I strongly endorse the recommendation from the committee, and I am pleased that the Government response supports that measure in principle. While I was on that committee I could establish absolutely no reason why we should be allowing the use of non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags in shopping centres or in shops in the ACT. There seems to be no reason whatsoever for them to exist, and I would certainly support that recommendation being implemented, although I acknowledge, as the Government response acknowledges, that it is important to have in place a system which works in with the systems of other States, in particular New South Wales. If we ban those things here we could potentially disrupt the flow of commerce with other States, particularly New South Wales, and that would not be desirable.
A third issue, under recommendation 52, is tip fees. Subsequently, the committee recommended that tip fees be introduced in ACT tips, and it actually set out what sorts of charges ought to be put in place. I have to say that I feel very strong empathy for that recommendation. I believe that there is a very strong case for doing that. All the evidence the committee received pointed very strongly in that direction, and I want to explain why I believe it did.
I believe that the fundamental problem of domestic waste in this country, and the fundamental bar or barrier facing efficient and widespread recycling in this country, is what I call the "ethos of disposability", which our country has inherited and operates under. We are a society which is extremely ready and extremely prepared to dispose of its rubbish without any second thoughts, without thinking about what form of disposal we might pursue. Australians see it as their right to be able to throw out whatever they want, whenever they want and wherever they want, and that poses a major environmental problem for us because, like every other major urbanised community in this world, we are quickly facing up to the problem of not having sufficient resources to continue to provide land or fuel on the scale needed to dispose of that sort of volume of rubbish on an annual basis.
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