Proper Disposal of Waste in Australia
The increase in societal pressure on its local government is causing
an increasing push for a better environment, waste disposal, improved
pollution management as well as the health and welfare of the
communities in Australia. These occurrences have given rise to many
cases, statutory laws and administration to address the lack thereof. It
is primarily the responsibility of State and Local Government in
Australia for the proper disposal of waste. Local government tries to
maintain control of illegal disposal of solid waste. There are some who
choose to dump waste on the roadways but for the most part waste is
taken to the landfill areas that have been designated for that purpose.
The majority of these landfills are controlled by the local governments.
However, as the sites become filled to capacity, additional sites become
necessary. The problem with that is the community that will have to host
the landfill is most often objectionable to its placement. Landfills
bring scavengers and, of course, odor. However, with the control of the
leaching from the waste dump and other chemicals and gases released
during decomposition, the resistance to a landfill is minimised.
Although, local government has been able to improve the situation by
leaps and bounds, there are still some areas that need progress such as
the disposal of technological waste (obsolete electronic equipment) and
addressing the transportation of the waste to various landfills as they
become more and more distant from the communities.
With more than 14 tons of waste being disposed of annually, it has
become crucial to explore other ways of disposing of waste. As such in
recent years that has been more recycling in addition to incineration to
control the management of waste. The increase in recycling has done a
tremendous favor to the retarding the growth of solid waste. This was a
step in the right direction for proper waste disposal for the Australian
community. This means instead of ending up in a landfill, regular
curbside collection of aluminum and glass containers drives more reuse
of these products.
Litter is yet another issue that the local government is struggling to
control. Unsightly litter generally ends up damaging our local
ecosystems because it ends up in our drainage and sewage systems.
Additionally, it makes a place unlivable. The most beautiful park can be
stained by litter. Trying to determine how much litter is about at any
given time is not an easy task. It is a very manual task undertaken by
the Keep Australia Beautiful Council. Based on their tally, it has been
shown that there has been a decline in public or consumer littering.
Now, the focus has shifted to regulating the litter from consumer
packaging as well as industrial litter.
The budget to manage the proper disposal of waste is yet another concern
for local government in Australia. A major cause of the slim budget is
due to public agencies not recovering the full costs of waste. The
monies received are collected by charging a fixed amount on property
values and an estimate on how is needed to for waste disposal. Local
government is taking a look at shifting some the cost over to the
consumer to encourage residents to minimise their waste. The movement
toward implementing system that requires consumers to pay for the type
or amount waste would curb excessive waste and provide motivation for
each household to pay careful attention to waste. There are similar
systems in the U.S. Residents in the Western US, for example, are
subject to a system which charges them for waste disposal based upon
volume. Normally, everyone gets one bin, however, those residents who
are in need of two bins pay an significantly higher extra charge.
Shifting some of the responsibility to the consumers led to decreased
waste. In fact, in a matter of less than ten years, those needing two
bins shaved their consumption and/or waste down to one bin. Just a
little monetary incentive is all it takes. |
