Most people try to do the right thing. They understand the social contract to do so.
Yet waste services in Melbourne do not always meet their needs. Especiall6 with regard to needing xtra hard waste services.
Pay as you throw is a compelling concept that people would love. My household generates small amounts of rubish. I tell the neighbors to use my bins, rather than let the magpies trash the tops of their overflowing ones and spread it around the area.
Watching a neighbor downsizing after 30 years has been interesting. Two garage sales, trips to the opp shop, rubish in the bin. But she can't give much of her stuff away. It's out dated but well cared for. Her family is helping but she will exceed her hard waste amount easily.
A lot of people give up and just leave it on the nature strip when they go. Council will collect it after the fact if we report this. But it doesn't really solve the problem.
But we are doing better than we used to. And giving 10c for bottles has helped separate more waste.
But yes, the integration of collection and disposal services is needed.
Thanks Karen. Great observations. When waste services don't work for people the evidence is often dumped rubbish or furnishings and clothes left on the nature strip as you have noted. Households produce a variety of wastes and the amount they produce varies at different times in the year and between households, depending on family size, etc. We all know this from our own experience. Once you realise it, you can start to understand how standardised services across the municipality, let alone across the state, are not going to work and materials will be lost to recovery when they are dumped or put into the wrong collection service.
Fascinating insights Stephen. I think the lessons of FostPlus in Belgium are also worth considering and an Extended Producer Responsibilty (ERP) model that funds Councils and not just the industry players and their capital needs.
Darrin. Thanks for the feedback. I will have a look at FostPlus. I watched the presentations from a Zero Waste Europe conference held in Belgium in 2023 on mixed waste sorting as an alternative to incineration. It seems a lot more effort is going into plastics recovery from residual waste streams because it is proving too difficult for householders to separate the different polymers for recycling. The plastics manufacturers seem to be realising they have a responsibility for supporting better methods of plastics recovery to avoid all carbon from plastics being released into the atmosphere through waste incineration.
Most people try to do the right thing. They understand the social contract to do so.
Yet waste services in Melbourne do not always meet their needs. Especiall6 with regard to needing xtra hard waste services.
Pay as you throw is a compelling concept that people would love. My household generates small amounts of rubish. I tell the neighbors to use my bins, rather than let the magpies trash the tops of their overflowing ones and spread it around the area.
Watching a neighbor downsizing after 30 years has been interesting. Two garage sales, trips to the opp shop, rubish in the bin. But she can't give much of her stuff away. It's out dated but well cared for. Her family is helping but she will exceed her hard waste amount easily.
A lot of people give up and just leave it on the nature strip when they go. Council will collect it after the fact if we report this. But it doesn't really solve the problem.
But we are doing better than we used to. And giving 10c for bottles has helped separate more waste.
But yes, the integration of collection and disposal services is needed.
Karen Smith
Thanks Karen. Great observations. When waste services don't work for people the evidence is often dumped rubbish or furnishings and clothes left on the nature strip as you have noted. Households produce a variety of wastes and the amount they produce varies at different times in the year and between households, depending on family size, etc. We all know this from our own experience. Once you realise it, you can start to understand how standardised services across the municipality, let alone across the state, are not going to work and materials will be lost to recovery when they are dumped or put into the wrong collection service.
Fascinating insights Stephen. I think the lessons of FostPlus in Belgium are also worth considering and an Extended Producer Responsibilty (ERP) model that funds Councils and not just the industry players and their capital needs.
Darrin. Thanks for the feedback. I will have a look at FostPlus. I watched the presentations from a Zero Waste Europe conference held in Belgium in 2023 on mixed waste sorting as an alternative to incineration. It seems a lot more effort is going into plastics recovery from residual waste streams because it is proving too difficult for householders to separate the different polymers for recycling. The plastics manufacturers seem to be realising they have a responsibility for supporting better methods of plastics recovery to avoid all carbon from plastics being released into the atmosphere through waste incineration.