Thank you for inviting me
here today to talk at your community center. My name is Dale Richards, and
I’ve been a public servant in the waste management sector for over 25 years.
During my career, I’ve seen
great strides in the technologies and systems used to reduce waste. But
despite those efforts, waste continues to grow. Waste generation in Australia
has increased by 31 percent between 2003 and 2007. Even worse, hazardous
waste generation has doubled. This is in part due to changes in the nature of
waste in modern times. Complex goods, many of which contain hazardous
materials, are now a significant portion of the content dumped into
landfills.
We’ve worked hard to develop
methods to tackle this reality, but I don’t think we’ve been approaching it
in the right way. What I’ve noticed is that no matter how magnificent your
waste management systems, they are not effective without public
participation. And how do we engage the public in our efforts? Through public
education. And that’s why I’m dedicating a lot of my time to doing talks like
this.
So, let’s talk about the
programs and services available to your community that empower you to create
a greener future. First of all, to understand contemporary waste management,
you have to understand the concept of what’s called “resource recovery.”
Resource recovery focuses on reclaiming materials that were previously
thought waste or unusable. Recycling and composting are the most recognizable
examples of this.
I think at this point we are
familiar with recycling. Every developed country has some kind of public
recycling program for common materials such as paper and cardboard, aluminum,
glass, and plastics. And without doubt, the normalization of recycling has
yielded positive results.
But waste management extends
beyond basic recycling. For example, there is specialized recycling for more
complex goods. Batteries, electronics, and light bulbs fit into this
category. Because they contain toxic materials that may be harmful to the
environment if not disposed of properly, recycling them requires specialized
methods. If you call our waste management centre,
we will tell you where and how to appropriately discard of these items.
However, what I’m most
excited to tell you about is our composting program. We now have
government-sponsored composting that successfully
recovers food and garden waste. Of course, composting
is nothing new. People, especially farmers, have been using compost to create
rich soil since the beginnings of agriculture. However, the use of composting
in today’s urban environments is relatively new. Individual households may be
able to do their own composting, but what about large residential complexes?
And restaurants? That’s why we created a citywide curbside pick-up program
for personal and commercial food and garden waste. The waste is taken to a
composting plant, where it is processed into compost that is used to enrich
soil.
During the composting
process, waste gas such as methane is produced as a by-product, and can be captured and used to generate electricity and
heat. Improvements in composting technologies have allowed us to monopolize
on this energy source.
However, I should address a
major concern with public composting: sanitation. There are disagreements
over how sanitary it is to collect bins of compost that can sit for anywhere
between two and five days before being collected. The concern is valid, but I
really feel that potential downfalls can be avoided through proper storage
and regular pick-up.
In any case, these are just
some examples of services and programs that you, as community members, can
take advantage of. If you’d like to know more, I’ll be here for another
twenty minutes or so to field questions.
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