Page 1210 - Week 03 - Thursday, 31 March 2011
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composting or anaerobic digestion gives the lowest net flux of greenhouse gases compared with other options.”
Source separation also triumphs in terms of overall environmental benefits. This becomes clear when there is a full life cycle analysis of different waste management options. As I have pointed out to the government, this analysis is not done in its draft waste strategy. A study by the Tellus Institute for the state of Massachusetts did conduct a life cycle analysis, though. It concluded that using composting, which needs source separated organics, is the most advantageous management option from an environmental and energy perspective.
If you look at organics, much of this benefit is because source separated organic material presents the best material for use in composting and anaerobic digestion, which results in the highest quality material to reuse in soil. The benefits of using high quality organic material in soil are often overlooked. But they are substantial. Land degradation and declining soil fertility are causing big problems in Australia. Using organic material in our soils allows them to sequester carbon, a very important feature in combating climate change. They also replace chemical and oil-based fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides and improve soil fertility for more food production. As we know, with peak oil approaching, there will be less and less oil-based fertilisers; they will dry up. All these benefits are really only available when we use source separated organic material. We can achieve this by giving a third bin to Canberra residents for the collection of organic waste. It is a win for Canberrans and a win for the environment.
It is clear that the government cannot dismiss the option of a third bin without at least addressing all of these issues. Its draft strategy certainly does not prove that co-mingled processing is going to bring better results to Canberra and the environment. As we have recommended consistently, the government should be favouring the third bin approach in conducting a trial of organic waste recycling at multi-dwelling residences. We believe this is a smart step. This will provide valuable information about the efficacy of such a system and about the attitudes of Canberrans towards the system. We also think the government should trial the processing of the collected organic matter in windrow composting, especially before committing to large expenditure on any particular technologies.
We only have to look around Australia, and indeed around the world, to see how source separation models are delivering for both the community and the environment. We actually just need to look across the border where our friends in Goulburn are operating a very successful third bin collection system. In this program called “city to soil”, participation has remained universal and contamination rates have been minuscule. When people know their organic waste is going back into agriculture they take source separation very seriously.
Many Canberrans ask, and rightly so, why they do not have the same service. They may have seen the organics recycling services that are offered in Condobolin or many places in South Australia or in Lake Macquarie or Port Macquarie. Looking further afield to Europe shows conclusively how source separation of organics will work. Separate collection of organic waste has occurred for decades now almost country-
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