Carlton River Catchment & Southern Beaches Conservation Society
Dump the Toxic Dump
P.O. Box 92, Dodges Ferry, TASMANIA, 7177
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release. Monday 10th September 2012
TOXIC WASTE DISPOSAL IS A STATE ISSUE
- NOT A COUNCIL ONE
“Hazardous waste disposal is clearly a state-wide issue, not a council one,” says Claire Burnet from the Carlton River Catchment & Southern Beaches Conservation Society, who are now running the Dump The Toxic Dump campaign.
“This issue needs careful consideration from a state-wide perspective, so that we can ascertain the most suitable ways of dealing with hazardous waste in respect to environmental and public health risks.”
“We acknowledge there is a need to securely deal with toxic waste in Tasmania” said Claire, “But the Government must also acknowledge and guarantee that dumping hazardous waste into a landfill site is an absolute last resort, to be considered only when all other options have been exhausted.”
“We are calling on the Tasmanian Government to develop a state-wide hazardous waste policy for Tasmania, similar to what was recommended in the 'Current and Future Controlled Waste Practices in Tasmania” Draft Report, written for the Tasmanian Government in 2008 by Sustainable Infrastructure Australia.”
This policy should give careful consideration to a range of issues including, but not limited to:
- Putting the onus back onto business and industry to reduce their hazardous waste outputs;
- Encouraging innovation and technological advances in the fields of reprocessing, recycling and reusing such waste;
- Investigating more environmentally friendly methods for disposing of such waste - of which there are many; and
- Research into alternative sites for hazardous waste disposal facilities where the impacts and possible risks to both the environment and public health are minimised.
-- MEDIA RELEASE ENDS—
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