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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-09 Daily Xml
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NATIONAL RECYCLING WEEK

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Conservation. What support is being provided to encourage and assist the community to continue to recycle and reduce waste going to landfill?

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water) (14:45): I thank the honourable member for his very, very important question. I am pleased to alert members—and I am sure some of them do know—that this week is National Recycling Week and, to celebrate, councils nationally have been invited to participate in the Big Aussie Swap by hosting a public 'swap party' to encourage the exchange and re-use of items rather than disposing them to landfill.

Workplaces have also been encouraged to participate in the Friday File Fling campaign to help de-clutter workplaces and increase business and workplace recycling. It is an opportune time to focus on recycling initiatives occurring in our state, including efforts to ensure that where possible we avoid the creation of waste in the first place, which is a key focus of the South Australian new draft Waste Strategy for 2010-15, which was released for consultation in August this year.

I am very proud to boast that South Australians have earned an outstanding reputation for good waste management and recycling. Significant achievements have already been made, and South Australia continues to maintain one of the highest recycling rates in Australia, with the most recent Recycling Activity in South Australia report recording a diversion rate of 70.4 per cent—the highest rate achieved by South Australians in the past six years.

To assist households to recycle, Zero Waste SA's website has a number of helpful features, including recycling tips and a recycling information directory to help residents recycle materials that are not collected at the kerbside. The state government, through Zero Waste SA, is helping businesses and governments to better understand, develop and implement cost-saving resource efficiency measures via the Resource Efficiency Assistance Program (REAP).

The REAP program is building the capacity of businesses and agencies to deal with a range of rapidly emerging waste-related environmental, financial and social consequences and helping them to shrink their environmental footprint. REAP has been successful in helping industry to identify new outlets for recycling different materials and, importantly, new ways of reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. Currently, more than 100 organisations are involved in different aspects of the program, the focus being on the manufacturing, retail, hospitality, mixed small to medium enterprises, government, health and community services sectors.

In the hospitality sector, the Adelaide Convention Centre, through REAP, is diverting more than 100 tonnes of food waste annually, and the Hilton Adelaide has achieved 54 per cent less waste to landfill per guest night. These are outstanding figures, and I can tell by the enthusiasm in the room that people are impressed by them.

Griffin Press, an Adelaide book printer, in an exceptionally well-served electorate, and part of PMP Printing, has made significant inroads into reducing waste to landfill under the REAP program by diverting more than 1,300 tonnes of waste away from landfill and achieving an impressive waste cost saving of $90,000.

This initiative is indicative of the state government's commitment to maintaining our national leadership in the area of recycling and resource efficiency. I trust that all members will join me in commending Zero Waste SA staff and their community and business partners for their commitment to this cause, as well as the broader South Australian public for their willingness to change their behaviour so that we can work towards zero waste.

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