Tas Conservation Trust
The Tasmanian Conservationist
The Tasmanian Conservationist
Tas Conservation Trust
Mt. Wellington Cable Car hearings begin

TASCAT hearings for the Mount Wellington Cable Car began today, and will run for approximately three weeks / one month. Of the 21 grounds for refusal, Hobart City Council has dropped 4 grounds and retained 17.

Mt. Wellington Cable Car hearings begin

Waste Management

Tasmanian Tyre Clean Up - Volunteers Wanted

The Tas Conservation Trust needs volunteers to help cleanup 600 used car tyres ready for recycling 

Where: 294 Old Forcett Road, Forcett
When: On Friday 24 February – 9 am to 12 noon & Saturday 25 February – 9 am to 12 noon
Why:

The owner of this property rescues and rehabilitates horses. The 600 car tyres are a fire hazard for the owner and the horses. The Tasmanian Conservation Trust is paying to have the tyres taken away and recycled by the Melbourne company ‘Tyrecycle’.

But we need volunteers to collect and stack the tyres ready for collection. Some tyres also have dirt inside that needs to be removed before they can be accepted by the recycler. Please come along if you have a spare hour or two.

What to bring:

  • Wire brushes or other stiff brushes.
  • Gardening gloves.
  • Wear sturdy shoes, long trousers, long-sleeve shirt, bring a hat and sun screen.
  • Bring your own drink and snacks.

Further information:
Peter McGlone
Tasmanian Conservation Trust
0406 380 545

 

South Arm Primary School Car Tyre Clean-up

On 12 April this year the TCT held a very successful volunteer event to clean and remove unwanted car tyres in and around to the South Arm Primary School in Hobart’s eastern shore. A total of 616 tyres were collected and taken to Longford where they will soon be shredded and sent to Tyrecycle’s facility in Melbourne for recycling. This was probably the first stand-alone tyre clean-up event held in Tasmania.

Mobile Muster

MobileMuster is the Australian mobile phone industry’s official product stewardship program. It is a free mobile phone recycling program that accepts all brands and types of mobile phones, plus their batteries, chargers and accessories. Basically, it’s the industry’s way of ensuring mobile phone products don’t end up in landfill – but instead are recycled in a safe, secure and ethical way.

Tasmanian Waste Review

In October 2013, consultants ‘Blue Environment’ Pty Ltd was commissioned by the state government’s Waste Advisory Committee (WAC) to investigate current management practices and explore opportunities and barriers for more effective management of five priority waste streams: municipal, industrial, clinical and quarantine, pit waste and sludges and organics. These five areas were identified by the WAC as needing special attention. The following headline statistics tells us this was justified.

Batteries

The report ‘Analysis of battery consumption, recycling and disposal in Australia’, by Australian Battery Recycling Initiative and Warnken Industrial and Social Ecology Pry Ltd is a seminal publication on batteries in Australia. Before this report was produced very little was known about the amount and type of battery used in Australia and how they are disposed.

Director’s report March 2014

From a policy perspective the state election was most notable because the victorious Liberal Party failed to release a single environment policy, i.e. a pro-environment policy. The closest it got was the announcement of funding for the Three Capes Track, and South Coast Track but both were made alongside tourism industry representatives and were framed as investments in tourist development.

Copping Hazardous waste dump

Over the last 12 months the public debate over the proposed Copping hazardous waste disposal landfill (or C-cell) has been the catalyst for a renewed debate about a range of waste management issues. The proponent of the Copping C-cell, Southern Waste Solutions, has suggested a number of times that the community should refrain from criticising the C-cell because most of us are probably sending household hazardous waste (HHW) to existing landfill sites, which are not designed to contain such wastes, and that this is probably causing significant environmental harm and risk to human health.

Household Battery Recycling

The MobileMuster is a free mobile-phone industrial recycling program that accepts all brands and types of mobile phones, plus their batteries, chargers and accessories. Check the website for drop-off sites: http://www.mobilemuster.com.au/ When we contacted our local waste transfer station to dispose of batteries we were told that it only accepts car batteries and will not accept torch, clock and camera batteries.

Copping C-cell

During the federal election the proponent of the Copping hazardous waste landfill facility (or C-cell), Southern Waste Solutions (SWS), tried unsuccessfully to obtain a funding commitment from the major political parties. On 2 August 2013 the Southern Tasmanian Councils Association released its ‘2013 Federal Election Manifesto’, which includes a request for a commitment to providing $9 million for construction of the proposed Copping C-cell.

Copping hazardous waste disposal facility

The company Southern Waste Solutions (SWS) has recently received permits from the Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Sorell Council to construct and operate a ‘C-cell’, or high-level hazardous waste disposal facility at a site between Copping and Carlton River in south-east Tasmania. The local community is strongly opposed to the proposal and demands that the permits for the Copping C-cell be revoked. The TCT supports this stand and the reasons for it.