For many Chinese, just after arriving in Australia, they need to get used to it again, and one of the most important Australian rules is the garbage classification system.
In fact, the classification of waste in Australia is particularly stringent:
In general, ordinary waste, recyclable waste and kitchen waste need to be put in different kinds of garbage bins, while construction, chemical and other special wastes need to be sent to the disposal point designated by the city hall.
In New South Wales, for example, a fine of up to A $15000 can be imposed on illegal litter disposal, while those who have had a "criminal record" of illegal litter disposal within five years may even be jailed if they commit it again.
In recent years, Australian supermarkets have responded to a "green call" by offering plastic shopping bags for a fee, despite mixed customer attitudes.
However, does the recyclable waste that you carefully separate every time, after being carried away by the garbage truck, really lead to the bright, green "recycling road"?
1. Mysteriously disappearing "recyclable waste"
Grant Musgrove (Moussgrove, chief executive of the Australian Recycling Council, offered a subtle response to this question:
"some have been recycled, but some certainly have not. It's about 50%-some of the remaining 50% are landfill, and others are gone. "
He added, "some of the rubbish was shipped overseas, while others went to some places." They have to go somewhere, such as being unlawfully buried and thrown away, "Moussgrove grinned to reporters who asked questions." obviously, some were burned. "
Grant Musgrove / Source: Waste Management Review
In fact, China was once one of Australia's largest exporters of discarded glass. But since China banned imports of "foreign waste" at the end of 2017, Southeast Asian countries, as well as India and Indonesia, have become Australia's largest "overseas dumpsites".
In addition to the "landfill" that almost everyone knows, Mousgrov's reference to "burning garbage" in the interview is not empty.
In 2017, a sudden fire sounded a wake-up call at a garbage disposal plant in Coolaroo, Victoria, called SKM.
Black smoke / source: Herald Sun at fire site
The blaze was 19 kilometers from downtown Melbourne, and plastic-burning smoke shrouded the northern suburbs of Melbourne, forcing hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate.
The cause of the fire was confirmed to be a mountain of plastic waste and paper from the site.
Because of the high cost of garbage collection, it is no longer possible to sell a good price abroad, and in Victoria, there are even a lot of "garbage warehouses"-looking at it, the entire warehouse is submerged in the ocean of abandoned glass.
A warehouse / source for Polytrade: ABC
Polytrade Recycling, for example, has nine such warehouses; in each warehouse, there are about one hundred thousand tons of waste glass in large white bags.
No one knows where they will go, or where they will live with dust and cobwebs.
Although the scene is a bit magical realism, but it looks familiar:
After all, nuclear waste in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan has also been stored in such a way that it is simply replaced by a black bag known as " one hundred thousand years of safety and security."
Source: F.Robichon
Yet this is far from the worst scenario.
2, officials protect each other! Dirt and corruption in the depths of the clear river in the new state
In Australia, the waste disposal and recycling industry is now almost completely out of control.
In fact, in New South Wales, in order to encourage manufacturers to replace "landfills" with "garbage recycling", government adopted the practice of charging up to A $138 per tonne for landfills.
This behavior, careful investigation is actually a bit like the government control process came up with a "brilliant plan": "the tobacco tax continues to increase, eventually smokers because they can not afford cigarettes, naturally quit smoking." (click to read: why is Australia still prohibited?) this project, which has caused Chinese entrepreneurs to flock to China, is still prohibited.
The high cost, for some companies, has not served as an environmental warning, but has pushed them on the path of "illegal litter disposal".
Spencer (Spence) is a quiet town in New South Wales on the edge of the scenic Hawksbury River (Hoxbury River.
Spencer / Source: ABC
In 2014, the quiet in and out of the town was broken by frequent, mysterious trucks.
These trucks are actually busy throwing piles of garbage-including toxic and harmful asbestos-into private lands, some of them lazy to bury them.
This beautiful and fragile wetland, sadly filled with all kinds of domestic waste, even construction and chemical waste, eventually flows into the originally clear Hoxbury River with these filthy secrets.
A few days passed, a few weeks passed, a few months passed. These suspicious truck appearances do not have any company names or information, and the flow of 50 vehicles a day "alarms" some local residents.
Lynne Barratt (Bellat, a local resident, told reporters helplessly, "I contacted the EPA's garbage disposal complaint hotline and wrote to Gosford City Hall-but I didn't get any response."
"obviously, they all know what happened, but by default it continues to happen," said another resident, who also witnessed the situation. This has been going on for at least four months. " "I contacted the city hall, but later I was contacted by staff who said it was too big and they had to hand it over to the EPA," he added.
The investigation later confirmed that the city hall and the environmental protection agency were indeed involved in the investigation at the time, but were interfered with by an official suspected of corruption in the West Sydney branch.
In a later exposed recording file, such a "hidden mystery" dialogue can be heard:
"do we have anyone in Gosford?"
"well. Wait. Let me make a phone call. "
The corrupt official who told the other party that he needed to make a phone call was Craig Izzard (Izzat.
He is an unknown former rugby player, the number one figure in the "government illegal litter disposal team" and a police officer who "sheltered" one side of the illegal littering.
Craig Izzard / Source: Daily Telegragh
At this point, he is being independently tracked for corruption.
In October 2015, Izzat secretly accepted a cash bribe in exchange for trying to stop his team's investigation into the case.
In December of that year, Izzat called one of his "clients": "you know. Is the investigation team here? Did they say what you're gonna do? Or just stop? "
"they didn't say what to do." The private waste processor, Abbas (Arbor), adds an eye-popping truth:
"not just me, but also Gosford City Hall. For almost 20 years, the city hall has been throwing away rubbish illegally. Before I buy this land, it is owned by the City Hall Transport Manager. "
"in fact, when I bought the land, they were still throwing away rubbish illegally. Sometimes I even give them the keys directly, and they say I'm doing very well. Very good。 So I thought it was normal, but it was illegal-dump the damn garbage into the river. "
Hawksbury River / Source: Alamy
When the person on the other side of the line rose from excitement, Izzat seemed to have known about it for a long time, and the tone remained unchanged: "Okay, I'll talk to the EPA."
Soon, Arbor got a satisfactory response from Izzat's offline: "good news!" The EPA people said they would throw the problem at Gosford City Hall. "
"Oh, great, great."
"you know, he can help, he can help all kinds of things. All you have to do is give me the money. "
3, benefit multiple options: a $2.6 million garbage disposal fee vs A $506fine
In fact, in this case, the New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency (NSW) did not really act until 18 months after it became aware of the case.
And while the last illegal littering in Spencer was banned by the EPA, the decision seems to be a bit "careless":
It is estimated that more than 20,000 tons of garbage have been illegally dumped in Spencer.
In other words, the agencies saved A $2.6 million in garbage charges while illegally abandoning them; the only penalty received after the crime was a "administrative penalty" of A $506.06.
What is more important is obvious at a glance.
"this is a very complicated issue," a spokesman for the EPA said, adding, "the issue is being pushed forward by the court," after reporters chased the question of "whether anyone has accepted the punishment."
There is nothing new under the sun.
In fact, in addition to Spence's "garbage River" on the Hoxbury River, there is also a "junk mountain" on the central coast of Mangrove Mountain (Mangroff, which is supposed to be a golf course.
Infamous "junk Mountain" / Source: Central Coast Community News
The well-known landfill mountain is owned by shareholders of Australian waste disposal giant Bingo, although Bingo's CEO tried to deny its relationship with Bingo in an interview.
The MSW processor, which has grown from microcosm since 2005, has now reached a peak of A $1.09 billion in market capitalisation.
END
When I was a child, I often heard a saying, "if you don't read well now, you can only pick up rubbish when you grow up."
Source: No. 7 of the Yangtze River.
However, this market, which does not seem to be able to "enter the room" in the traditional Chinese concept, actually has huge potential business opportunities.
According to statistics, Australia's waste management market in 2017, at A $12.5 billion, is still growing steadily every year. And as the population continues to grow, the amount of garbage created continues to increase.
Globally, the waste management market is also expected to grow from $330.6 billion in 2017 to $530 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.0 percent between 2018 and 2025.
But when a regulatory body becomes an accomplice to the law-knowing and law-breakers-a profession that seems to be full of "benevolence and morality"-is there any hope?