Page 3255 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 18 August 2009
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The government’s recent statements on waste do not inspire confidence. Many in the community have expressed concern that it will abandon its zero waste target. Other Australian jurisdictions are going the other way. Most recently the country’s largest local council, Brisbane, declared a zero waste policy. Our own Chief Minister recently said that we will never achieve a situation where no waste is reduced to landfill. On the radio recently, he called people advocating for this target “zero waste zealots”.
The Greens believe that we are facing serious waste and environmental challenges and what we actually need to conquer them is zero waste zealots. We do not need people who are content with business as usual.
Mr Coe: Andrew, are you a zero waste denier?
MS BRESNAN: Possibly.
Mr Barr: Mate, at least I believe in evolution.
MS BRESNAN: It is unhelpful to go breaking down the zero in zero waste to some infinitesimal degree. Perhaps, technically, we could only reach, say, a 99 per cent reduction in waste right now, but zero waste is a goal and an inspiration we cannot lose.
In Boulder, Colorado, for example, you can see local buses with signs that say, “Zero waste—or darn near it!” We need policies that truly strive for zero waste. Incremental changes based around existing technologies will not achieve what we need. We need to be dedicated to a zero waste strategy to generate innovative solutions.
As the government often points out, we cannot recycle asbestos in the territory right now. That does not mean we will never be able to. Technology has reportedly been developed in the USA that can convert asbestos fibres into inert material that can be used for road base. If we abandon zero waste as a concept and we philosophically resign ourselves to being a wasteful society, maybe we will never make the effort to find and use these innovative solutions.
I also want to stress that the government must take responsibility for waste issues. Mr Stanhope recently answered questions about our declining waste achievements by talking about personal responsibility. This ignores the key role played by government. The policies and actions of a government that is 100 per cent committed to sustainability will give people the desire and courage to change the way they manage their lives.
You just need to look at the many inspiring stories from around the world. Everyday people in everyday cities have engaged with ambitious recycling policies and they have worked. The Opotiki district in New Zealand, for example, followed the ACT by announcing a zero waste target in 1998. With close cooperation from government, it was only a few years before they were consistently diverting 90 per cent of their waste from landfill. There is no reason why that cannot happen in the ACT.
It might also be time for the government to review how much responsibility it defers to contractors, particularly in light of recent failures, and whether the government
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