ISSUES 65 - WASTE
NOVEMBER 2003

Editorial

Plastic Shopping Bags in Australia
Environment Protection and Heritage Council
Current plastic bag use and disposal, by consumers and through waste management activities not only create environmental problems, but exemplify the wasteful practices of our society. The littering of plastic bags creates a visual pollution problem and affects our aquatic wildlife, while a heavy reliance on 'disposable' plastic bags by the Australian consumer raises concerns about resource consumption and efficiency.

Bag Yourself a Better Environment
Clean Up Australia
Did you know that Australians use 6.9 billion plastic bags per year and if these were tied together they would stretch around the world 42 and a half times? In response, Clean Up Australia has launched a national plastic bag action and awareness campaign.

Australian Town Bans Plastic Checkout Bags
Planet Ark
One of Tasmania's most popular tourist towns has joined Planet Ark's campaign to reduce Australia's use of plastic bags. They've banned them in a bid to help reduce the 7 billion plastic bags that Australians use every year.

The National Packaging Covenant and the National Environment Protection Measure - An Overview
Packaging Council of Australia
The National Packaging Covenant and the National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) were launched in Australia in August 1999. The covenant emphasises the principles of 'shared responsibility' and 'product stewardship' and aims to improve the environmental performance of companies. This article provides a summary of the covenant and the National Environment Protection Measure and an overview of the implications for companies.

Do Consumers Have a Responsibility for Packaging?
Saul Salter, LINPAC Plastics
Packaging has not enjoyed favourable publicity over the last few decades, with criticism covering topics such as packaging, difficult opening, littering, waste disposal, resource depletion and contamination of the packaged goods. Each one of these is an easy target for an emotional response. In the packaging industry we try to respond with well-constructed scientific arguments, but perhaps we have missed the point.

Towards Zero Waste Heralds Dramatic Shift in Focus
EcoRecycle Victoria
Even though we are recycling more than ever before, Victorians continue to generate increasing quantities of waste. In response, EcoRecycle Victoria have developed a 'zero waste' strategy that aims to reduce both household and industry waste by 15 per cent, and increase waste recovery by 75 per cent within the next ten years.

A Waste-free Future: Is it Possible?
Warren Snow, Zero Waste New Zealand Trust
Planned obsolescence is a thing of the past. The notion of easy disposability is old hat. Products which are now designed to be thrown away, could have eternal life in a waste-free future. It's incredible, but can it be done?

Extended Producer Responsibility: Can NSW Go it Alone?
Total Environment Centre
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is the next big change for waste management in Australia. EPR transfers the post-consumer physical and financial responsibility for products and their waste disposal from the community to producers. In the process, a message is sent to the producers that the redesign of products is essential to reduce and remove toxic components, and to make their products easier to recycle and parts more easily replaced or more durable. The New South Wales Government has recently taken the first steps towards EPR in Australia.

Zero Waste: The Way Forward
Greenpeace
Society has been stuck for too long with expensive, unsafe, 'quick-fix' waste management systems that perpetuate a mindless 'throw away' mentality. A new paradigm is required that looks at waste not as a problem to be buried or burned, but as an opportunity to recover valuable resources, create jobs, save money and reduce pollution.

Hazardous Household Waste
Friends of the Earth, Sydney
Everyday we buy, use and throw away many products that contain small amounts of hazardous chemicals. Why are these products hazardous? Because they pose a risk to you, your family and community, as well as to waste collectors and the environment.