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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-02-14 Daily Xml
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Get Wasted Recycling Scheme

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:32): I am very pleased today to report on some feedback I have had from constituents in Ashford who have come back very enthusiastic about the Get Wasted recycling scheme in West Torrens. 'Get wasted' has a different meaning these days, which is probably quite good. The Get Wasted recycling tour, I am told—and I must say I am very enthusiastic about going on one myself—takes people from the community to the different recycling centres available in the metropolitan area, particularly in the western suburbs.

I might have given information to the house before about how I was brought up to very much value the fact that we need to recycle our waste. My father was a very keen recycler. They say you end up being like your parents. I have ended up being quite an enthusiastic recycler myself, but for me there is a fair bit of education that has needed to go with that.

For example, it took me quite a while to work out what could happen with energy-saving light bulbs and fluorescent globes. I am very pleased to say that quite a few places, certainly in the western suburbs, and also in some regional centres, as I understand it, will take energy-saving light bulbs and fluorescent lights. Any Banner or Mitre 10 hardware store takes up responsibility, as do True Value Hardware stores. In our area, Metro Waste at Thebarton takes up that responsibility.

There have always been lots of questions asked with regard to organic waste—I am very proud to say that at our house I have a compost system next to the veggie garden—but there are also a lot of things we have always had question marks about. I am very pleased to hear that the green bin—certainly in our area—not only takes the normal lawn clippings and cut flowers and weeds but also takes food waste. I guess it was news to me that you are able to put in cake, cheese, yoghurt, coffee grounds, bread, egg shells, oyster shells, nut shells, fruit, hair, meat scraps and bones (both cooked and raw), paper, shredded paper, tissues, paper towels, pizza boxes that are heavily soiled, seafood (raw and cooked), teabags, takeaway foods and vegetable scraps.

The question has then been raised with me by constituents: what do you do with animal poo? It is commendable that when people take their dog for a walk there are all these little plastic bags all over the place for people to put their animal's waste in, but what happens to it after that? What do you do when you get home? Apparently, depending on what the animal poo is wrapped in, there is an opportunity in the waste bin to dispose of that product; if there is an organic bin, particularly if it is wrapped in paper, then that is the place to put it. I remember the old days when my family had an incinerator, and a lot of things were incinerated, but there are also seemed to be a lot of holes dug in the veggie garden where all sorts of things, like animal poo and all the rest of it, were placed.

I was also asked a question about dead animals. On the 'A to Z Guide to Waste and Recycling'—and I recommend this to people, because you can look up a whole lot of issues and find out the best way to dispose of those waste products—it says 'small animals in small quantities only' may be put in the organics bin (if you have one), or the waste bin if there is no organics bin. I guess that will be quite handy for a number of people.

There is also soft plastic. I am very pleased to say that you can actually place all your soft plastic, such as plastic wraps and also plastic bags, at Coles in Kurralta Park and Woolworths at the Brickworks, and they are disposed of together in a proper way rather than going into landfill.

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