Okay, so it's not sexy but it needs to be discussed. I am talking about waste.
I started this post before the shocking story was aired on ABC TV's 4 Corners program on Monday night (7 August 2017).
You can catch it on iview if you missed it.
Reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna exposed appalling information about what is going on in the recycling industry. For example tonnes of waste that is not being recycled at all, but dumped or stored in places like Ipswich Queensland. About waste just sitting waiting to go up in a toxic fire at any moment. Waste that is filtering into our waterways. About Australians being duped as they sort and put out their recyclable materials, when the reality is that about half of it isn't recycled at all.
Apparently the bottom has fallen out of the recycling industry in that there are cheaper sources of recycling materials to be found overseas, so there is much less of a market for our recyclables than there used to be.
ABC TV's recent (mid 2017) three part series 'War on Waste' #waronwaste was also very enlightening about the subject of waste, which, let's be frank, most of us prefer not to think about.
Did you manage to watch or listen to any of it? I caught all of it and found some of the information pretty amazing … in a bad way, unfortunately. It is not that the show was bad, it was some of the disturbing information about waste, that was presented.
Take food waste that was covered in episode one. The show's presenter, actor and comedian Craig Reucassel visited a banana plantation. I thought it was quite shocking the high percentage of the bananas that were considered unacceptable and therefore pulped.
What's unacceptable? Too long, too short, too wide, not curved enough, not straight enough (lady-finger), not a suitable 'butt' end. So much wastage.
And then there is the amount of unnecessary matter going into landfill, when it could either not be produced in the first place eg takeaway coffee cups and unnecessary packaging, or it could be put to better use, like putting food scraps into a compost bin or worm farm to produce fantastic rich soil for your garden.
What are you doing about waste? A good start is to make less of it. I was just at the supermarket and noticed each piece of sweet corn was wrapped in plastic wrap. Sweet corn already comes in its own natural wrapper, so why the extra wrapping?
Did you know that you can tell how fresh sweet corn is by smelling it. It should have a soft sweet smell. Once you have smelt fresh corn, you will know how to check it. Obviously if it is unnecessarily wrapped up this makes it harder to check. Of course you could unwrap it, but why wrap it at all?
Note to self, I will speak to store manager to ask why and request they stop the practice.
Okay, I'll step down from my soap box, but do consider checking with your council about their recycling to make sure your recyclables really are being recycled.
And if you're a coffee lover, a 'keep cup' is a great idea. Also some cafes give you a discount if you bring your own cup/mug.
To find out which cafes give you a discount, go to www.responsiblecafes.org
Cheers!
I started this post before the shocking story was aired on ABC TV's 4 Corners program on Monday night (7 August 2017).
You can catch it on iview if you missed it.
Reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna exposed appalling information about what is going on in the recycling industry. For example tonnes of waste that is not being recycled at all, but dumped or stored in places like Ipswich Queensland. About waste just sitting waiting to go up in a toxic fire at any moment. Waste that is filtering into our waterways. About Australians being duped as they sort and put out their recyclable materials, when the reality is that about half of it isn't recycled at all.
Apparently the bottom has fallen out of the recycling industry in that there are cheaper sources of recycling materials to be found overseas, so there is much less of a market for our recyclables than there used to be.
ABC TV's recent (mid 2017) three part series 'War on Waste' #waronwaste was also very enlightening about the subject of waste, which, let's be frank, most of us prefer not to think about.
Did you manage to watch or listen to any of it? I caught all of it and found some of the information pretty amazing … in a bad way, unfortunately. It is not that the show was bad, it was some of the disturbing information about waste, that was presented.
Take food waste that was covered in episode one. The show's presenter, actor and comedian Craig Reucassel visited a banana plantation. I thought it was quite shocking the high percentage of the bananas that were considered unacceptable and therefore pulped.
What's unacceptable? Too long, too short, too wide, not curved enough, not straight enough (lady-finger), not a suitable 'butt' end. So much wastage.
And then there is the amount of unnecessary matter going into landfill, when it could either not be produced in the first place eg takeaway coffee cups and unnecessary packaging, or it could be put to better use, like putting food scraps into a compost bin or worm farm to produce fantastic rich soil for your garden.
What are you doing about waste? A good start is to make less of it. I was just at the supermarket and noticed each piece of sweet corn was wrapped in plastic wrap. Sweet corn already comes in its own natural wrapper, so why the extra wrapping?
Did you know that you can tell how fresh sweet corn is by smelling it. It should have a soft sweet smell. Once you have smelt fresh corn, you will know how to check it. Obviously if it is unnecessarily wrapped up this makes it harder to check. Of course you could unwrap it, but why wrap it at all?
Note to self, I will speak to store manager to ask why and request they stop the practice.
Okay, I'll step down from my soap box, but do consider checking with your council about their recycling to make sure your recyclables really are being recycled.
And if you're a coffee lover, a 'keep cup' is a great idea. Also some cafes give you a discount if you bring your own cup/mug.
To find out which cafes give you a discount, go to www.responsiblecafes.org
Cheers!
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