Page 1218 - Week 03 - Thursday, 31 March 2011
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really is a great educational facility at the resource recovery estate, with some great technology to help visualise the recycling process and the actual machinery they have in place. It really does make the basic urban services such as recycling much more approachable and much more real for Canberrans.
I was also very impressed when I went out to the management centre to see the great work being done by contractors, by independent operators. In particular, I thought the operation at Tiny’s was pretty impressive. He is certainly turning over a huge amount of material there. He took over from Aussie Junk, who took over from Revolve. But, regardless of the operator, that sort of re-use is a very important part of managing our waste or potential waste here in the territory.
What I was perhaps more impressed by was the operation being run by Corkhill. It really is just an extraordinary operation, on a scale which is almost unimaginable, to be honest. The amount of throughput that Corkhill actually manage is absolutely amazing. I was staggered to hear that so much of the potting mix that we go and buy at Woolworths, Coles or Bunnings across the eastern seaboard actually comes from Corkhill out at the resource management centre. It really is quite amazing. I think it is a well-kept secret here in the territory just what a booming industry that is, what a real success story it is and how the private sector has been a real leader, an innovator, an investor, in an industry which sometimes is seen simply as the purview of government, of the public sector. It really is a tremendous role it is playing in Canberra and one that I hope will be able to continue in one form or another.
As I said at the beginning of this speech, this is very much core business. This is very much something that people of Canberra expect this Assembly and this government to deliver. I get many complaints or representations to me about issues with kerbside collection, issues with recycling bins, issues with hoppers and issues with waste management practices at Housing ACT properties and Housing ACT complexes, and they simply do highlight that these sorts of issues do make a real impact on the quality of life of Canberrans. It is to that end that we in this place must take a particular interest in this. It is, of course, an extremely expensive area of management for the government—it is something like $70 per household for the collection of kerbside waste and recyclables—but an extremely important one.
However, on waste management I do think it is important to remind the Assembly that it was this government a couple of years ago which took away rubbish bins from places like Pine Island and Kambah Pool on the ridiculous notion that if you take away the rubbish bins there will be less rubbish. Yes, there might be less rubbish collected, but I am not convinced that the actual environment where those rubbish bins once were is necessarily better off. I would have thought that, if the government were really committed to the environment, a more practical solution would have been to add recycling bins where those rubbish bins were; rather than simply taking away the rubbish bins, perhaps putting a second bin in there. We are still advocating for a more appropriate use of disposable organic and putrescible waste, but at least having one bin would be a start in some locations, and preferably a second one as well.
It is important we do not encourage the compromising of the waste stream. I know some people do take objection to the very small green bins which are now being
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