Minimising Waste at the Resource Work Co-operative in Hobart
“One man’s waste is anther man’s treasure”
I am hopeful that the word ‘Waste’ will be obsolete in the future. Perhaps I am an idealist but humans are the only species on earth to generate waste and yet we seem to be totally unconscious of the impact of our actions on our groundwater, the earth and the air we breath.
It was inspiring to visit the Resource Work Co-operative while in Hobart and have Matt show us around. Started in 1993, the co-operative is working hard to promote waste minimisation in the community. The Resource Tip Shop is a great place to pick up various pre-loved goods but also a wonderful substitute to dumping stuff in the tip. The Co-op’s Deconstruction Service can salvage around 90% of materials from buildings, providing recycled building materials for sale at the Tip Shop. They run a community pick up service for those who aren’t able to bring their stuff to the shop and hold an annual ‘Art From Trash’ exhibition to encourage the reuse of discarded material in the creation of visual art.
Last year they saved 587 tons of stuff going to landfill. That’s admirable.
We are finally beginning to see the value in waste and many countries are starting to regulate how organic and other waste material is managed. We know that all of the food scraps we generate can be composted and used to grow food again rather than ending up in landfill. We know we can extract energy and soil from our toilet and agricultural waste. Yet, why are our systems in Australia designed to not encourage this?
Why are we not more outraged that manufacturers deliberately design for obsolescence?
The products you buy are designed to last just long enough for you to be reliant on it, before a vital part fails, convincing you to discard that item and replace it with a better model. Often current technology is withheld so a ‘newer and better’ version can be launched a few months down the track. You are convinced by your peers and advertising that even though your device still works, its time to get the newer model. The vicious cycle of endless consumerism has been designed to create endless economic growth for the manufacturer and endless pollution and emissions for our planet.
Australia is one of the top 10 consumers of electronic goods and our E-waste is growing at about 3 times the rate of other rubbish. I’ve read that we have 22 million unwanted mobile phones in our homes. Much of the material in these phones can be recycled. In 2010, we had 42 million computers in landfill or waiting disposal. We consume about 350 million batteries annually and only recycle 3% of these.
The list goes on…
Our lifestyles are contributing to much of the toxic chemicals such as lead, cadmium and mercury found in landfill. Much of the e-waste also contains non-renewables such as tin, nickel, aluminium, zinc and copper. We have a choice to protect our earth and groundwater and also to reduce future mining of these resources by recycling our e-waste properly. Waste is defined to be ‘any substance which is discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use’. Let’s enable each other to make waste obsolete in every area of our lives and transition to a Zero Waste, Circular Economy.
As we said our goodbyes, Matt remarked that the easy end of the Circular Economy is what you choose to buy. He couldn’t have said a truer word. Let’s ditch the plastic and unnecessary wrapping, let’s feed the worms our scraps…we can all make a small start today.
First published by www.polisplan.com.au on 11 June 2016
