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| Environmental Issues | ||
ESJG/WS Submission to the Brisbane City Council - April 2010Brisbane City Council’s Waste Management/ Recycling While the Brisbane City Council is doing an excellent job in many respects (parks, libraries etc) its approach to waste management and recycling is less than fully effective. The City Council’s approach to environmental problems appears to confine itself to awareness raising in general which too often is not backed up by sufficient/accessible services and/or facilities. The City Council does not follow best practices in recycling/waste management. We urge the Council to address environmental issues and to implement sustainable practices. The greatest areas of concern are: 1. Lack of capacity: • Recycling facilities do not have sufficient capacity to cope with demand. We understand that of the 300 kg of recyclable waste per person per year only 70 are currently recycled. The lack of capacity is evidenced by one of our members twice driving all the way to the transfer station to deliver waste paper for recycling only to be told that the capacity was full and to put it in with the general waste. • Collection services for household hazardous wastes are so few and far in between that people are prone to miss them. 2. Lack of access: • Recycling facilities are available in the major transfer stations but they are an average of 18 km away from the central city area (St. Lucia). • Collection days for hazardous wastes are only once in 3 months and the onus is on the individual citizen to find out the exact date for collection times. Moreover, the collection date always seem to fall on a Saturday which is not helpful to many people. The combination of a long way to the transfer stations, infrequent dates for collection of dangerous wastes and the lack of generally available information on dates of collections do not facilitate recycling by citizens. • Kerbside collections are held only once every two years which is too infrequent to be useful. • More recycling facilities as in New Farm should be made available in parks to make recycling more accessible to residents in all areas of Brisbane. (The standard should be one recycling facility within walking distance of all residential areas!) 3. Lack of relevant information • While the BCC has issued a brochure for businesses about where and how to do their recycling this is not available to households. There is a definite need for area specific information of recycling facilities and the times of recycling/waste management services for households. 4. Inefficiencies BCC still allows the dumping of damaging and harmful substances to the detriment of the environment and future generations. • Hazardous wastes, such as household batteries, CFL and fluorescent light bulbs currently go into the general bin with the result that cadmium and other chemicals from batteries, mercury and phosphorous vapors from broken bulbs leak into air and into the landfill causing long term environmental damage. • Other City Councils around Australia have already implemented better practices, e.g. the Ipswich City Council recycles CFL properly through special collection boxes. • There is anecdotal evidence that items collected in the yellow bins are not kept separate and/or are not always separately disposed of. • Green waste is free of charge in many cities around Australia, e.g. Sydney (Sutherland Shire, Ryde), Adelaide and other places. Charging a fee for servicing green bins does not promote recycling but illegal dumping. 5. Lack of responsibility/accountability The BCC has outsourced many waste disposal/recycling services to private companies which, however, do not feel accountable to the public. E.g. a complaint to the BCC is directed to VISY to which the company does not reply. How are the contracted companies held accountable? Recommendations from the Ecumenical Social Justice Group/WS: 1. That monthly or bi-monthly collection services of hazardous household wastes are introduced on a regular date for each area, e.g. the first Friday or third Wednesday etc. 2. That the City Council arrange for collection boxes for household batteries in libraries and that these are separately and properly disposed of. 3. That the City Council establish proper collection points for fluorescent light bulbs and dispose of the mercury and phosphor they contain in a responsible and sustainable way. 4. That the City Council make recycling facilities for cans, glass bottles and similar goods available in more public parks so as to have them accessible in all residential areas. 5. That the BCC advertise/promote the recycling/waste management services available to households with area and time specific information. 6. That the Council stop charging for green waste and make composting places available in public parks and/or do green collections services once a month (surely this could be used for recycling and composting and with proper organization the parks services would benefit from more/better soils). 7. That the City Council make recycling and waste management a priority and establish a high powered Standing Committee responsible for introducing environmentally sustainable practices and better waste management (with better accountability to citizens) 8. That the City Council substantially increase its budget for recycling for 2010/2011. 9. That the City Council use forward thinking strategies (as it has done with bus building) from a wholistic , long-term problem soving orientation to develop genuine solutions for environmental concerns/ recycling and employment creation. We trust that the BCC will consider our submission in the spirit of cooperation and hope that it will be useful in promoting better services and the development of more environmentally practices. If required, the Ecumenical Social Justice Group/Western Suburbs Inc would be happy to provide further information/assistance/input and can be contacted on ..... April 2010 Things You should know about Energy Saving Light Bulbs1. Energy saving light bulbs, also known as Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL), contain mercury vapour. Mercury is toxic to humans, and can permanently damage the brain, kidneys and developing foetus or lead to death. 2.Energy saving light bulbs emit ultraviolet rays (UV) rays which exceed recognised safety limits if the light bulb is positioned in closed proximity (30 centimetres), e.g. if used as a reading light. People have experienced skin rashes, headaches, sore eyes and fears of skin cancer. Following their introduction in 2007 by the Federal Government a ban on retail sales of the old incandescent light bulbs is due to take effect in November 2009. What is impact when a CFL lamps breaks? Every time a CFL light bulb breaks •people are exposed to mercury vapour. “Human and animal studies indicate about 80% of inhaled mercury vapour is retained by the body.” ( National Public Health Website) •mercury vapour is released into the environment and contaminates air, land, and water. It accumulates in fish and enters our food chain. •Queensland currently has no official recycling scheme. How much mercury is safe for us and the environment? One CFL light bulb contains between 1 – 5 mg of mercury which is released as mercury vapour if the light bulb is broken. If a person inhales the vapour directly the exposure can exceed international guidelines for exposure in ambient (outdoor) use. Reported immediate effects of inhaling mercury vapour from a broken CFL light bulb have varied from burning of nose cells to temporary incapacitation. Longer term effect studies are not yet available. 1 gram of mercury can contaminate 4 billion litres of water above internationally acceptable levels. What are other countries doing? The majority of the world has recognized the danger of allowing CFL light bulbs to end up in landfills. All EEC countries, America, Japan, New Zealand and many Asian nations have legislated to ban mercury containing lamps from landfill. What do I do if a CFL breaks? The Queensland government website recommends •Open nearby windows and doors to ventilate the room and leave area for 15 minutes before retuning to cleanup. •Sweep up—don’t vacuum—of the glass fragments and fine particles. If any gets into carpeted areas, use a damp cloth or sticky tape, to pick up fine particles and fragments. •Place all of the pieces of the light bulb and clean-up materials into a container or sealed plastic bag, for disposal in accordance with the advice of your local waste disposal authority. •Continue ventilating the room. •Wash your hands and face. For more information see Channel 9’s program on this at http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kVaaibQUHww and http://www.hoax-slayer.com/mercury-fluorescent-lights.shtml What can you do? Write/talk to your local MP and City Councillor to ask them for proper disposal facilities, public education on this issue and adequate warning labels on the light bulb packages. Copy and sign our petition. Our Lightbulb Petition To the Prime Minister, The Federal Ministers, State Ministers and Local Government Heads Honorable Sirs, Given that the recently introduced energy saving incandescent Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL) contain both toxic mercury vapour and phosphorous and that they emit UV rays which can cause damage to a person if positioned in close proximity, we, the undersigned, believe that these light bulbs constitute a potent health and environmental hazard. We, therefore, request that •The Federal government make it a requirement for all such light bulb packages to display clear warnings of the health hazard if positioned less than 30cm to a person and of the health hazard in case of breakage; •That both the federal and state governments take steps to educate the public on these health issues and that they legislate to require proper and safe disposal of broken or old light bulbs; •That local governments supply recycling facilities which ensure that the mercury vapour which has the potential to poison air, land and water even in small quantities and the phosphorous are adequately contained and disposed of. (Please,insert table here for Name,Signature and Address)
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| Doing more... |
| Buying soccer-balls? Our offer to local secondary schools: Reinforce your school's learning goals, set an example for acting justly and help to maintain peace by buying fair trade soccer-balls. The ESJG will subsidise your purchase! For details and conditions, please contact Karin Chai - email: karinsrealbox [at] yahoo.com |
| Latest News: |
| ESJG Fundraiser Films ESJG is raising funds for promotion of Fair Trade goods throughout schools in Brisbane. Through the support of the Regal Twin cinemas at Graceville, we are selling tickets for one of two movies that will be screening at the cinema in July to Septemeber 2010. The films are Skin and The Reluctant Infidel. Tickets are $12 and are available from ESJG members or phone Sean on (07) 3376 8448. We also need more people willing to assist by selling tickets. Would you be willing to help out with this? |
| Upcoming Events |
| ESJG end-of-year gathering: Mon 8th November 2010 |
| ESJG Meeting Dates 2010 |
| Monthly meeting dates 2nd Monday of each month - unless a public holiday*
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