BOTTOM LINE: Millions of disposable nappies end up in landfill.
ONE of the biggest items on council’s budget is the disposal of rubbish.
With the expanding population and the filling of the Awaba tip, this is becoming a problem requiring urgent attention.
Like most problems it is better tackled at the beginning.
To this end I would ask the candidates for election their policies on disposable nappies, fast-food outlets, cafes, and plastic bags.
Disposable nappies: Many millions are being ‘‘disposed’’ of in landfill where they take hundreds of years to break down. My generation and those before used cloth nappies.
Fast food outlets: These invariably serve their products in polystyrene clamshells, waxed paper buckets and cups, with plastic drinking straws and cutlery all loaded on a cardboard tray.
The whole lot – including any uneaten portions – is then thrown in the rubbish bin. Crockery and cutlery cleaned in a dishwasher would cut this stream dramatically.
The proprietor of a Japanese restaurant in Sydney offers a discount for diners who eat the entire meal and amazingly needs only a small garbage bin emptied each week.
Cafés: Many of these do not have recycling bins for glass bottles, aluminium cans and other recyclables.
Plastic bags: Some 6billion of these are used in Australia each year. Most finish up in landfill where they can remain for centuries.
– George Aungle, Morisset Park
