RUBBISH EVERYWHERE: Were to with waste management.

For most people the last time they think about the rubbish that they produce is when they close the lid of the bin after depositing something.

A second thought may cross the mind when a rates notice arrives with a charge for the domestic waste levy and the NSW waste levy- mine is a little over $200 a year.

At present in Shoalhaven everything in the red lid bin or the land fill bin goes straight to the big whole at west Nowra. There is a small landfill facility at Huskission but most village rubbish is transferred to Nowra and buried.

The yellow or recycle bin is sorted manually at Nowra by a local company who separate out the paper glass plastic and bundle it for reprocessing.

Most reprocessing of recycled materials occurs overseas.

I was fortunate enough to go and visit a few waste facilities to look at the different types of processes that our rubbish goes through before its life end. Some systems are highly mechanical, others are more people intense. The main aim is to remove from land fill anything that rots and creates methane- a green house gas that is partially responsible for climate change, and to ensure that anything that can be recycled is recycled.

It all costs a huge amount of money- although when spread out across the whole community we end up with a frequent service at low cost.

This year Shoalhaven City Council needs to make a decision on Rubbish. How will it be processed, how often will it be collected, how many bins are the types of questions we need to answer and find a suitable solution for.

So what should be our main aim?

Diverting the maximum amount of material from land fill.
Implementing a Green Waste system.

Implementing a system never before used in Australia but that has excellent results from trials.

The number of rubbish trucks moving around our city.

Waste process' that involve people sorting and sifting through our mess.

Educating our population on better ways to deal with rubbish.

Costs to the ratepayers of the city over the life of the contract.

All aspects have their plus and negative sides.

As you can see it makes for a difficult process and add to that 13 people (Councillors) that all have different opinions- an extra level of difficulty is created.

Some of the other things that I will be considering during the process, will be the carbon accounting of the whole operation and how we can have a more sustainable approach in general to waste management.

I think that Shoalhaven has done a remarkable job so far with the home composting program. Which returns to the soil waste that would currently end up in land fill which will be taxed twice- once by the state just for filling the hole and next an eventual emission tax on the methane produced by rotten organic material.

I like that if I need someone to take away my large green waste, I can call council and for a moderate fee someone will collect my waste for me. Our family have never used this though as our challenge is to put back on our garden all the pruning and clippings we produce.

I also hope that Council can raise the communities awareness to the land fill bin so that we can be more thoughtful about our disposal.

After all no one wants a tip in his or her backyard.