CCTV bandaid for failed waste policies

JC, you’re right, there are facilities. Note that I said above “proper” – what is available is expensive, inconvenient and does not suit a lot of people. You just need to read the comments above to see that.

And it’s not just that poeple don’t want to pay the cost, it’s much more than that.

What’s needed is a proper waste management strategy for material other than the current rubbish/recycling service.

Maybe we should find out whether any of those folks that have appeared in other posts that have loads of cars and stuff around their houses would like to have a collection of computer monitors or CRT TVs. I’m sure google earth can help find willing collection sites.

Actually, the QBN bi-annual collection depends on whether you live in units/townhouses, or houses. If the former, there are designated days, but QBN council doesn’t advertise them, they letter-drop the week before to notify residents. Probably to deter people from the ACT taking advantage of this golden opportunity.

When I moved to the ACT from Sydney the lack of ‘clean-up’ days, plus charging for recycling at the tip utterly amazed me, this was simply part of the standard, excessive, rates package in Sydney. Thankfully QBN has some sense (let’s not mention the Special Rates Variation this year).

john87_no1 said :

Maybe people wouldn’t dump things if the Tip didn’t charge such ludicrous amounts to drop rubbish off.

I went to drop off rubbish the other day to Mugga Lane and with all my computers and TV’s in the trailer the disposal charge would have been $300.

I told them to stick it…. and buried it myself.

I am so over Stanhope and his chump ideas.

Nice one, environmental vandalism at its worst, well, perhaps not its worst. I assume you also pour oil down the sink.

I understood that ACT would have hard rubbish collection by now, I mean it was in the last ALP election platform. So in lieu of providing this service, as promised, the CM now proposes to punish people for disposing of hard rubbish in umm rubbish collection points ?

p1 said :

georgesgenitals said :

And this is exactly what happens just over the border in fair Queanbeyan. Twice per year the local council come, free of charge, and remove whatever you leave on your front lawn, provided it it boxed or tied up sensibly.

Anyone know what date this happens? I’ll just leave all my unwanted stuff in a neat pile out the front of a house in Queanbeyan.

You need to ring and book your pickup. You get two per year, and they typically want a couple of weeks notice.

perhaps what is needed is a government surcharge (ie Tax) on electronics so that you pay for the disposal at the time you buy it?

Very few manufacturers have their own recycling schemes (in Australia I think only Apple has a “bring it back to us for free” program me in place), so it’s up to the Gummint to get us to pay upfront so we don’t have stupid people burying their ewaste illegally and thus endangering everyone else’s health and wellbeing.

It might also be worth having n advertising campaign to tell people about the facilities for cooking oil, green waste, fridges, computers, batteries, etc. Not to mention labelling stuff at the tip better so the cheapskate idiots can figure out where to dump the shiny white thing that keeps food cold.

54-11 said :

JB is dead right (I can’t beleive I keep saying/thinking that!) – if only we had proper recycling facilities for green and e-waste, then a lot of this dumping would be unnecessary.

Actually we do have green facilities for both. With e-waste though the user pays. In fact we have facilities to deal with every type of waste, but people don’t want to pay.

Complete waste of time. Who’s going to monitor them and is it worth the possible $200 fine you might get if you get caught.

georgesgenitals said :

And this is exactly what happens just over the border in fair Queanbeyan. Twice per year the local council come, free of charge, and remove whatever you leave on your front lawn, provided it it boxed or tied up sensibly.

Anyone know what date this happens? I’ll just leave all my unwanted stuff in a neat pile out the front of a house in Queanbeyan.

OP: However some Canberrans are using the centres illegally to dump items such as cooking oil, clothing, furniture, computers, TVs and whitegoods.

Seriously, why dump this stuff? Cooking oil can goto the tip (although it can be an effort finding the small barrel it goes into if youve never dumped oil before). Clothing and furniture can be taken by charities or revolve. Computers can goto charity computers or e-recycling days, and white goods can be picked up from your house for free as scrap metal. Seriously, why dump it when theres so many options to get rid of it?

Also, as a regular visitor to the recycling centres, Ive been seeing signs around the place advertising 24hr CCTV surveillance for a number of years. You mean to tell me these signs have been for appearance only, and now that people have realised the signs are fake, the government realises it has to put its money where its mouth is, and actually HAVE cameras, not just talk about them.

justin heywood said :

Some people believe that ‘The Government’ should come around and collect any unwanted stuff at their house.

And this is exactly what happens just over the border in fair Queanbeyan. Twice per year the local council come, free of charge, and remove whatever you leave on your front lawn, provided it it boxed or tied up sensibly.

Just another reason why Queanbo rules.

Mitchell quoted me $15 a computer case and upwards of $25 a monitor.

I’ve been tempted to leave them out the front before the tip opens, but I’ll wait for another free e-waste recycling day.

john87_no1 said :

Maybe people wouldn’t dump things if the Tip didn’t charge such ludicrous amounts to drop rubbish off.

I went to drop off rubbish the other day to Mugga Lane and with all my computers and TV’s in the trailer the disposal charge would have been $300.

It’s not a strong argument to say that it’s OK to dump things if you don’t like the present arrangements. Some people believe that ‘The Government’ should come around and collect any unwanted stuff at their house. Should these people be allowed to dump their old stuff until the time comes when they are happy with the arrangements?

I agree that the the charges at the tip are too high. But I don’t agree that makes it OK to dump stuff all around the countryside. If you can afford to buy new stuff, you can afford to dispose of your old stuff.

I would like to see cctv cameras put in place around charity donation bins for two reasons

1) catch the b@st@rds who dump all their rubbish around the donation points costing the charities a fortune in removal expenses

2) catch the second hand stores that scour the bins for merchandise to sell at premium prices

Maybe people wouldn’t dump things if the Tip didn’t charge such ludicrous amounts to drop rubbish off.

I went to drop off rubbish the other day to Mugga Lane and with all my computers and TV’s in the trailer the disposal charge would have been $300.

I told them to stick it…. and buried it myself.

I am so over Stanhope and his chump ideas.

JB is dead right (I can’t beleive I keep saying/thinking that!) – if only we had proper recycling facilities for green and e-waste, then a lot of this dumping would be unnecessary.

Stanhopeless should be addressing the cause of the problem, not enforcement of the symptoms. The same argument goes for speed cameras and point-to-point. They are only addressing the symptom.

p1 said :

But will it deter the 13 year old boys from going through the paper recycling looking for p0rn?

Although I guess they don’t have to do that any more, what with the interbweb and all the boobs in Underbelly.

I think most guys in Belco will remember the paper dump.

I agree with His Chiefliness on this one. The recycling centres work well but their efficiency is marred by a minority who abuse them -throwing out old TVs, computers, mattresses etc.

These people have taken the time to load their unwanted items into their car but couldn’t be arsed driving the extra distance to the tip and disposing of them properly. They throw them out at the recycling centre because nobody sees them. The CCTV cameras should stop that.

If we can afford to buy all these shiny new things surely we can afford to dispose of our old gear properly.

So…these are people have gone to the effort to dump these things in what seems like a vaguely sensible place (even if they do so illegally). What is the more likely effect of cameras:

1) They realise the error of their ways and stop dumping entirely, or
2) They simply take their dumping to a less sensible-seeming place that has no cameras?

Pretty sure I know the answer.

But will it deter the 13 year old boys from going through the paper recycling looking for p0rn?

Although I guess they don’t have to do that any more, what with the interbweb and all the boobs in Underbelly.