What a waste; it’s all hot air without trust

DEAR News Of The Area,

WHILE walking the dog one Friday morning, I noted a Veolia garbage truck pick up a green bin, followed by the red bin.

I asked myself: “What is going on here?”

I returned home to find the green bin still full.

That’s when the penny dropped.

We once hosted a broken-down garbage truck on our street for half a day until a heavy tow lift came along to remove it.

I hazard to guess that Veolia were short a truck again.

The Lord Mayor’s concerns with ratepayer behaviour in response to proposed bin changes concern me less than the contractor’s capacity to meet present and shifting contractual obligations for improved waste management.

On the subject of “hot air” and a proposed Tomago trash furnace-to-electricity facility, to which a local responded in the negative, (‘Thermal waste – just hot air?’, NOTA, 16/7/26) I am reminded of the world-class furnace in Lausanne, Switzerland that is situated in a city area of 100,000+ people.

For a few years I worked close to that furnace. I recall the biggest issue was keeping it hot as recycling in Switzerland was over 90 per cent for glass and similarly high for other recyclable materials.

I recall seeing the waste ashes – mixed with cement – being stacked along the highway outside the city area as artificial landscape.

My only issue with such a furnace being placed in our region is with trust. Trust that the regulatory framework is in place with an inspection cycle that ensures appropriate capture and disposal of waste ash.

I am keen to see local government become the foundation of a renewed cycle of trust between politicians and the populace, because State and Federal Parliaments are arguably too big, too urban and too far away to respond to local concerns.

Regards,

Les Robinson,

Nelson Bay.