Wanted: A local hero willing to lay down their life for their council

A North Coast Voices reader contacted me the other day to draw my attention to the fact that Clarence Valley Council was not optimistic about attracting government funding for a roundabout at the intersection of Yamba Road and Treelands Drive, because local residents have been so inconsiderate as to not get themselves killed or injured in high enough numbers to satisfy the NSW Roads and Maritime Service.

Apparently the highest priorities would come from those with 3 casualties or more in the previous 5 years and, so far Yamba has only been able to produce two at that particular intersection and in that time frame.

The local wag suggested that Yamba trawl its 7,000 plus population for someone willing to lay down their life to make up the numbers, so that the roundabout could occur in his lifetime and a reluctant Grafton-centric Council didn’t have to put its hand in its pocket for the full $400,000.

Cartoon from Google Images

The Clarence River Historical Society’s January 2012 Newsletter reproduced a piece that appeared in The Clarence and Richmond Examiner on 26 November 1887. The CRE didn't claim it as a scoop - just as well, because it's suggested in some quarters that Gutenberg cast an eye over it but elected not to print it. However, the message it contains is as relevant today as when it first appeared.

 



Another Cansdell admission finally goes public?

The allegation of misusing parliamentary allowances has been quietly circulating in the NSW Clarence electorate since last year, initially making it into newspapers in relation to one instance of allowing a staffer to work on a federal election campaign in the seat of Page and initially denied by Cansdell.

However, this is the first time I have seen it in print couched as an admission of wrongdoing.

Barry to build himself a big legacy in News.com.au 25 March 2012:

Nationals MP Steve Cansdell was forced to resign from parliament after admitting to falsifying a statutory declaration and misusing parliamentary allowances.

Did Cansdell make undisclosed admissions to Stoner in September 2011 and, what else is the electorate not being told by Premier O’Farrell and NSW Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner concerning these allegations?

The question of contaminants in recycled plastic

Before reusing materials, recycling companies sort and shred plastic housings,

metal wires, and computer keyboards.

Recyclers continue to struggle with contaminants in electronic waste and in consumer plastics according to Naomi Lubik in the Environmental Science & Technology journal in Plastic’s Polluted Burden: ES&T’s Top Policy Analysis Article 2011.

In Europe researchers found that every class of plastics was contaminated. Overall, the team measured levels of cadmium close to or slightly above the levels set by the directive, but mercury well below the target levels. Lead in some places was very high, occurring at up to 7800 ppm…..

Recycling programs in Europe take in items including refrigerators, computers, cell phones, toys, and medical devices.

The wide variety of incoming plastics, as seen in the photo above, can be difficult to sort. In some of the more advanced recycling plants, mechanical shredding gets the plastics down to fingernail-size pieces, which must then be sorted by weight or optical methods to pinpoint the plastic type…..

Recycling contaminated plastics means that hazardous substances will never completely disappear from the market.

“We spread contaminants into a variety of products,” says Martin Schlummer of Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging in Freising, Germany. Schlummer works on methods to separate plastics and extract flame retardants. To get rid of contaminants, he says, “you should sort such plastics from e-waste and treat them separately.”  

According to ABS Australia’s Environment Issues and Trends 2010:

Australians are among the highest users of new technology in the world. Waste from obsolete electronic goods, or “e-waste”, is one of the fastest growing waste types.

In practical terms e-waste includes items such as televisions, DVD & video players, stereos, power tools, desktop computers and laptops, computer keyboards, scanners, printers, fax machines, mobile phones and PDAs, kitchen appliances, and ink & toner cartridges – from which plastic is often extracted for recycling.

Such e-waste can have components containing lead, antimony, mercury, phosphors, beryllium, brominated flame retardants (BFRs), phthalates, cadmium or arsenic.

Although many recycling facilities operating in Australia routinely separate e-waste from other sorts of waste**, one has to wonder if there is any ability to ensure that no contaminants have been absorbed into the plastic being extracted. Given that items containing plastic only appear to be manually sorted for visible gross contaminants, before being mechanically processed and separated into plastic/non-plastic material which had been reduced to tiny segments along the processing chain.

The entire question is complicated by the fact that Information about the disposal and recycling of waste materials and products is variable in scope and quality with some jurisdictions not collecting data and others having different waste categories according to the National Waste Report 2010.

** Veolia Environmental Services Australia states:

The recycling of the E-Waste equipment is performed at Sims E-Recycling, a joint venture set up between Veolia and the Sims Group. Electronic waste collected undergoes a manual dismantling process. The individual materials such as printed circuit boards, cabling, glass and plastics etc., are recovered and then processed so that they can be used as raw materials to produce new products.

Sims Recycling Solutions states that it:

dismantles a wide range of electrical and electronic products, ensuring all sensitive data is shredded to protect customer assets. Hazardous substances are recovered and disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Commodities such as metals, plastics and glass are then processed for recycling.
Recycling company 1800 E Waste states: Most electronic waste goes through a recycling system called a WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), which not only recycles 95-98%, by weight, of all ewaste passed through it, but ensures that any data left on hard drives and memories are thoroughly destroyed too. 
■Picking Shed – first all the items are sorted by hand and batteries and copper are extracted for quality control.
■Initial Size Reduction Process – items are shredded into pieces as small as 100mm to prepare the ewaste to be thoroughly sorted. This is also where the data destruction takes place.
■Secondary Size Reduction – the small debris is shaken to ensure that it is evenly spread out on the conveyor belt, before it gets broken down even more. Any dust extracted is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.
 ■Overband Magnet – using magnets, steel and iron are removed from the debris.
■Metallic & Non-Metallic Content – aluminium, copper and brass are separated from the non-metallic content. The metallic can then be reused and resold as raw materials.
■Water Separation – water is used to separate plastic from the glass content. Once divided all raw materials can then be resold.

The Hon. Dr. Peter Phelps MLC - portrait of a political ar$ehole

Three pictures speak volumes about this ignorant pollie.













Snapshots from
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/
and
@PeterPhelpsMLC

Update

Finally found that Phelps swearing tweet:

Scoop: Local MP plans to appear in avatar format

At yesterday arvo's meeting of The Table of Knowledge at the local watering hole Tom, who claims to know everything and anything about politics, had his wife's sister's young fella (truly, that's how Tom refers to the strapping young man, not simply his nephew) along as a guest.

When the agenda moved to consider the absence of our local charmer, oops that should be member, Chris Gulaptis's smiling dial on the parliament's website the young visitor remarked, "Reckon he's probably put it out for tender."

"What do you mean?" enquired Tom.

"Oh, sorry, Uncle Tom, but I thought from the way you and Aunty spoke about your local MP at home you reckon he's the ants' pants, a sorta 2012 SNAG (sensitive new age guy) type of bloke.

"And, that being the case, he wouldn't want something as ordinary as a mug shot on the website. Nah, he's probably waiting quietly till his designer has finished his avatar."

Well, readers, remember you read that scoop here.

Hmmm, we're wondering what Chris's designer will come up with. Any suggestions?

New Carbon Farming Handbook Launched In Casino by Saffin and Dreyfus

THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP

Cabinet Secretary

Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency

Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation

THE HON JANELLE SAFFIN MP

Federal Member for Page

MEDIA RELEASE

New Carbon farming Handbook to help australia’s farmers create extra revenue

29 March, 2011

Farmers, landholders, waste operators and other clean energy businesses in the Northern Rivers region seeking to take part in the Gillard Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) can now access information in a new handbook launched in Casino today by the Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus.

Speaking at a carbon farming forum organised by Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin, Mr Dreyfus encouraged farmers, land owners, local government and other stakeholders to utilise the Carbon Farming Initiative to generate extra income by reducing agricultural and landfill waste pollution.

“Climate change poses a serious risk to the future of Australian agriculture and food production, with scientists confirming a strong link to less predictable and more intense weather events. Over the next six years, the Gillard Government will support the land sector by investing $1.7 billion dollars of carbon price revenue to support the CFI and other programs to improve productivity, sustainability and profitability,” said Mr Dreyfus.

“Farmers and landholders have an important role to play in our nation’s clean energy future by increasing the land sector's resilience to climate change and improving long term farm productivity.”

“The Carbon Farming Initiative Handbook will be a great resource for farmers in the Northern Rivers region. It sets out how farmers and landholders can improve their land and farm sustainability while generating carbon credits that can be sold on domestic and international markets,” said Ms Saffin.

“Farmers and landholders in the Northern Rivers region can now benefit from methodologies that have already been approved under the CFI, including reducing methane in piggeries, flaring landfill gas, planting native species and reducing pollution from savanna burning,” said Ms Saffin.

“CSIRO, universities and other research bodies are developing a number of other methodologies with the federal government, including dairy cattle food supplementation, enhanced efficiency fertilisers, manure management and soil carbon,” said Mr Dreyfus.

While in the region, the Parliamentary Secretary also visited Casino West Public School, which received funding under the National Solar Schools Program, and met with local councils to discuss the CFI and the Government’s Clean Energy Future plan.

Further information about the Carbon Farming Initiative is available at: www.climatechange.gov.au/cfi

Media contact: Giulia Baggio 0400 918 776 (Dreyfus) and  Matt Dunne 0417 287 456 (Saffin)