WASTE MINIMISATION

The Hon. I. HUNTER (15:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment and Conservation a question about waste minimisation.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Perhaps the Hon. Mr Hunter will repeat that.

The Hon. I. HUNTER: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment and Conservation a question about waste minimisation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I. HUNTER: The government has set an ambitious target to reduce waste to landfill by 25 per cent by 2014. I understand that we have reached the target of 10 per cent already. This has been a great effort by South Australians but, clearly, further effort is required. Turning compostable waste (that is, our garden and kitchen waste) into compost and mulch, rather than sending it to landfill, must become a bigger part of the strategy to reduce the amount of domestic waste going to landfill. Will the minister inform the council what is being done to encourage the community to recycle more of our green waste?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health) (15:23): I thank the honourable member for his important question and his ongoing interest in these very important policy areas. It goes to the heart of how we all need to change our ways to improve the sustainability of our society and reduce our call on precious environmental resources. Getting waste management right is really about getting our resource management right: the less waste we have, the less we have to then manufacture, mine or harvest. A sustainable society (which is what climate change demands we become) is a society that uses all its resources wisely and throws almost nothing away.

Encouraging and educating the community is part of this transition. South Australians have already demonstrated that they are ready and willing to participate in recycling and that they understand its importance. One example is an initiative that I launched today: nearly 10,000 Adelaide homes will be involved in a trial to address the issue of contamination of green waste in household recycling programs. This initiative not only improves recycling but it also has a flow-on benefit as the product (green mulch) helps commercial and residential gardeners reduce their demand for water. I am advised that a good mulching can actually decrease evaporation by up to 70 per cent; in effect, saving up to 70 per cent in water, so it is very worthwhile doing.

The government has established this trial, working with two local councils, Port Adelaide Enfield and Campbelltown, along with the composting industry, the goal being to produce more usable compost which, in turn, can help save water consumption. Contaminated mulch or contamination in green organic bins requires an extraordinary amount of extra work: sifting through the mulch to remove those materials so that it can be used as mulch. So, green waste recycling is already phenomenally successful, with nearly 900,000 bin-loads of garden organics being collected each year from South Australian homes. What holds the success of this program back is people putting the wrong materials in the green bins, usually through a lack of awareness. I believe that most people would like to do the right thing given the opportunity.

A survey on what goes into the bins has started in Campbelltown, and it will be starting in the Port Adelaide Enfield Council next week. Problem materials that have been identified include plastic bags and plastic plant pots, as well as some more surprising material, like a child car seat and even cutlery. Today, I also saw a toilet cistern included in the green waste. What people might not understand is that they can contaminate an entire truckload of green waste by putting some materials into their green bins, even small amounts.

The educative element of the initiative is to provide stickers for the bins in those council areas to remind people of what is and is not acceptable to put in green bins. A letter and brochure is also provided to the participating households, and I am confident that, as we get the message clear for householders, we will see an increasingly clean green waste that will assist our composting industry, reduce our demand on landfill and result in better water-absorbing material in our gardens.