Urgent - Donations - Please Southern
Beaches Conservation Society Inc. and Angela Marsh (past President) are
being sued by Southern Waste Solutions - to shut us up! We will not back down - To take the case forward we need to $1,500 to finalise a legal account. Help us get this paid and we can carry on to stop the Toxic Dump. Donations of any amount will help. $5 - $10 - $20 or more - any amount will help.
Please make your on-line bank transfer donation to
Commonwealth Bank Account: Southern Beach Conservation Society BSB: 067007 Account No: 10123547 Reference: legals
For the last two years SBCS has promoted alternative waste management. Landfill is the last resort. Federal and State governments need to encourage, through incentives, the corporate, waste generating sector and local government municipal waste authorities, to embrace sustainable waste management. Waste to energy is the way of the future, creating local jobs, renewable energy and generating low cost fuel, locally.
Listen to the ABC report about how Sweden is showing the way in renewable energy and energy efficiency:
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Thomas Connelly, a long time active supporter of SBCS passed away this week. Thomas we will miss you as a friend dedicated to the community. Our loving thoughts are with Sally and the family.
All SBCS members and supporters come along tomorrow night(9 October), 6pm Lewisham Tavern.
Get an update on the C cell and what SWS is "up to" now!
Bring some ideas re getting information out into the community -
fundraising and a Christmas event.
Ever heard the
parable of the little shepherd boy who knocked down a giant with one slingshot?
Watch
this space, because a legal story is unfolding where the giant in this case is
the Copping Refuse Disposal Site Joint Authority (the Joint Authority), and the
little shepherd is the community group Southern Beaches Conservation Society
(SBCS).
Let’s
go back to the start of this story. You may recall that around 2 years ago the
Joint Authority did not adequately consult the community about placing a
hazardous waste C cell within the proximityof
the southern beaches river catchment. The Joint Authority’s“owners”,
four Councils, pushed through the development application and failed to
adequately discuss the matter with concerned locals. These same locals then
formed a community group called the SBCS who researched and promoted best
practice waste management techniques rather than what they claimed to be the
out-dated, option being pursued.
Fast
forward to the present day and our giant, the Joint Authority, is suing the
shepherd SBCS for writing to their potential customers and suggesting they
undertake their own due diligence.
It
doesn’t sound like reason for a lawsuit and the
Joint Authority themselves are not alleging they have suffered any loss or
damage as a result. So why are they bothering?
It’s
a question that remains to be answered, but a possibility hard to go past is
that they are trying to stifle public discussion and questioning by a community
group.
Recently released “Blue Environment
Report” has twenty two recommendations to put an end to Tasmania’s ongoing
waste management debate.
Prepared for the Waste Advisory
Council, the State Government and local Councils, this final report ignores the
interests of big business in favour of practical suggestions for dealing with
the waste we are all responsible for creating.
Overriding all recommendations is the
message that Tasmania needs to move into the 21st century of waste
management by placing a strong focus on ‘Reducing, Reusing and Recycling’.
By doing so, it foresees more Tasmanian
jobs being created within a new and exciting industry.
“The last two years, of the waste
management debate has been a learning process. Moving controlled waste from one place to another
does not solve a problem it creates another,” said Andrew Ranson, President SBCS.
“This Blue Environment Report details
key recommendations that can be adopted by those responsible for our waste
management. Recommendations that create jobs and benefit our environment rather
than deplete it.”
Southern
Beaches Conservation Society Inc. (SBCS) is calling on local and state
government and Tasmania's waste industry to respond to the recently released
Tasmania Waste Review Report, which was commissioned by the Waste Advisory
Committee (WAC).
The
report, completed by Blue Environment Pty Ltd, reinforces many of the points
that SBCS has been advocating for the last two years – alternatives to
landfill- Reduce- Reuse – Recycle.
The
report clearly indicates that an additional 360-500 direct and 300-420 indirect
jobs could be created in Tasmania if the report's recommendations, including
increasing the amount of waste we divert away from landfill, were implemented.
The
report also vindicates other SBCS longstanding goals:
ñImplementation
of a waste management levy
ñImplementation
of a state wide waste management policy
ñReduction
of landfill as a viable option and creator of jobs
“The
waste management industry in Tasmania is in a state of crisis” according to
Alex Green, Chair of the Southern Waste Strategy Authority on ABC Radio.
“Implementing
the recommendations of the report will go a long way to rectifying this
situation. SBCS remains committed to creating jobs by helping Tasmania
realise a better waste management future”, said SBCS Spokesperson, Andrew
Ranson.
After
18 years, the Australian Government has terminated support to our
small, community legal centre. From 30 June we will be running on
limited reserves and then facing closure.
We're legal aid for the
environment and our services are used across Tasmania by
environmentalists, farmers and local communities to protect the places
they love - from temperate forests, to coastlines, waterways and
heritage buildings.
But these essential legal services are as
threatened as the places EDO Tas defends. Now more than ever, as
Tasmania's regulatory protections are being dismantled, Tasmanians need
support to use the law to protect the environment.
How to create wealth from waste and reduce our landfill
While
Australia’s rich stocks of raw mineral resources have contributed to
the nation’s wealth and given us a competitive advantage we are also one
of the highest waste producing nations in the world (on a per capita basis).
In 2009-10 we dumped 21.6 million tonnes of household and industrial waste in 918 landfill sites around Australia. Of all the waste we produced we recycled only about half (52%).
But
can we do things differently? Can we change our production and
consumption patterns to generate wealth from what we currently designate
as waste?
The potential exists
Consider e-waste,
which is the old TVs, DVDs, computers, household appliances and other
electrical goods that we throw away. This type of waste has emerged as
one of our fastest growing waste streams but only about 10% is recovered or recycled.
Obsolete computers and accessories shouldn’t end up in landfill when they can be recycled for metals and materials.AAP Image/Alan Porritt
But
e-waste devices also include valuable metals such as copper, silver,
gold, palladium and other rare materials which means they are also
ending up in landfill.
By 2008 we had already sent some 17 million
televisions and 37 million computers to landfill, according to the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
But
if 75% of the 1.5 million televisions discarded annually could be
recycled we could save 23,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, 520
mega litres of water, 400,000 gigajoules of energy and 160,000 cubic
metres of landfill space.
Another way of looking at this is to
compare gold yielded from an open pit mine with that from discarded
electrical goods. Mining yields 1 to 5 grams of gold for every one tonne
of ore. From the same quantity of discarded mobile phones and computer
circuit boards, you can extract 350 grams and 250 grams respectively.
The new urban mines
In a world increasingly addressing issues
of sustainability, it’s no wonder that such end-of-life products are
now being seen as urban mines – valuable sources of above-ground metals
which can be recycled and reused.
That is the concept of the “circular economy”.
There is already some extensive recycling activity in Australia, helped by schemes such as the national Product Stewardship framework which encourages people to reduce waste.
But
we still lose significant amounts of valuable and recyclable materials
into landfill and park valuable metals in tailings and spoil heaps.
Given
Australia is already a global leader in primary resource production
from the ground, it is timely to think about how we might also adapt and
grow our expertise to mine and process above ground stocks and remain
at the cutting edge.
Can we lead the urban mining revolution?
Globally, there is already growing capacity and innovation in recycling.
Some recycling of rubbish is being done, such as at the Visy recycling plant in Brisbane, but we can do more.AAP Image/Dan Peled
New forms of manufacturing and business models are being developed that integrate secondary manufacturing of recycled materials.
So
the potential is there to diversify and adapt Australia’s skills and
technologies to support the new forms of processing and manufacturing in
this circular economy.
Why don’t we do this?
A major challenge lies in the ability
to persuade people and industry to see waste products as a resource
rather than a liability. We need to create more responsive
manufacturing, processing innovation and new business models around
recycling.
This will challenge the way we currently operate as a
nation and ask us to rethink how we relate to consumer markets around
the world.
We can’t keep relying solely on our raw mineral resources. Some commentators are now discussing materials scarcity as a bigger issue than energy scarcity.
This
scarcity is driving a move towards a circular economy – one in which
the value created by inputs (materials, energy and labour) is extended
by enabling a material life that goes beyond product life. So we go from
mineral to metal, to product, back to metal and so on.
By
understanding such economies and value of how this chain operates in
Australia, we can begin to understand, at scale, the barriers and
opportunities to more sustainable consumption and production in a
resource limited future.
Too much rubbish - Australia leads the way in waste per capita.Waste Atlas
Although
the technological challenges of complex materials processing are
fascinating, it is innovative business models that hold the key to
unlocking the wealth in our waste.
We also need to understand more about the cultural norms to see what needs changing.
Clean Up Australia found that around 14 million phones sit unused in drawers or cupboards, that’s equivalent to almost one unused phone for every two people in the country.
Although 90% of the materials within a mobile phone can be re-used, globally less than 10% of mobile phones are actually recycled. So why when we already have a solution do we not act to recycle our waste?
The
research programme will be about finding new ways of doing things that
accommodate our relatively small domestic materials market and challengs
the mindset that size matters when it comes to complex materials
processing.
If we wish to add urban mining to our global mining
reputation then we need to couple research, industry and policy
transitions for success in a future where recycling is an integral
component of resource productivity, not a niche specialism.
Southern Beaches Conservation Society Inc. is a non-political group that has no affiliation with any political party.
The following is an itemised statement from Southern Beaches Conservation Society Inc. (SBCS), to all our Facebook friends, defining the support SBCS has received over the past 18 months from each of the political parties, individual MPs and candidates in this coming state election, regarding our issues with the Copping hazardous/controlled waste C cell or toxic dump.
From one of our early community meetings, Federal, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, pledged support and raised questions of inadequate community consultation with regard to granting of the C cell permit with appropriate Ministers and with the Prime Minister. Andrew has continued his support from that time.
From our very earliest meetings, Tony Mulder, Member Legislative Council, asked questions in the Legislative Council regarding the C cell and lack of community consultation. Also has assisted SBCS on numerous occasions with advice and with postage.
Following one of our first community meetings, Tim Morris arranged a meeting with SBCS to determine our issues regarding the Copping C cell.
Tim Morris raised questions on several occasions, in state Parliament, on lack of community consultation prior to granting of the C cell permit.
Rebecca White, Labor MP for Lyons has assisted SBCS with printing on many occasions. But has not met with us as a group.
Tim Morris, has called for the release of a report on state legacy, hazardous waste, through Parliamentary privilege, on numerous occasions. Succeeding, through the Ombudsman in gaining a letter from Southern Waste Solutions (SWS), stating the amount of waste and number of entities throughout the state. This letter enable SBCS to define the quantity of waste around the state with which to build a case for non-warranty of a C cell in Tasmania.
Tim Morris has been available for many meetings with SBCS regarding alternative solutions to hazardous waste management, resulting in a meeting with him and the – then - Minister Cassy O’Connor MP, to gain the interest of the Greens party.
Tim Morris took SBCS information to the Greens Party Room for agreement to call for a Moratorium on the C cell until there is a state based waste management strategy in place that looks at alternative solutions for hazardous waste. This has been accepted by the Greens.
At the recent SBCS, The Waste of Tasmania pub debate Tim Morris announced the Greens Moratorium on hazardous waste to landfill.
State election candidates on the Panel for the Waste of Tasmania pub debate included: Tim Morris, Greens, Lyons; Mark Grube, Palmer United Party, Denison; and Michael Swanton, Independent, Denison.
Mark Grube supported a claim of lack of due diligence on behalf of Southern Waste Solutions (SWS) with regard to community consultation.
Michael Swanton supported our stand on landfill as a last resort.
Over the last 18 months many requests made by SBCS for meeting with Labor Ministers have fallen on deaf ears.
At a meeting with Minster David O’Byrne it was evident that he was determined that the correct decision had been made regarding the C cell and landfill was the best and only method for waste disposal in Tasmania.
Nether Labor or the Liberals will acknowledge that we have any just cause to question the C cell permit. We have letters to that effect from both part leaders.
Both Labor and Liberal refused their candidates permission to take part in the pub debate.
Neither Labor or Liberal are interested in seeking alternative solutions to landfill and would rather assist industry to take the cheapest way out, leaving no incentives for alternative solutions that would lead to job creation and energy efficiency.
