Special: Waste

Hi, I'm Wren and welcome to this BTN special all about Waste! 

Now you might have noticed, I'm not in the BTN studio. I'm at Electronic Recycling Australia. We're gonna get a tour a bit later on and find out what exactly goes on here... 

FATBERGS

But first we're going to find out about fatbergs. They're a smelly problem that affect sewerage systems around the world and even shut down a concert in Perth earlier this year. Tatenda found out more.

Tatenda Chibika, Reporter: There's an unimaginable horror lurking in our sewers. It's big, It's gross, and it's reaaally stinky.

Yep, fatbergs are a real thing and they're pretty much as gross as they sound. They're masses of grease, rubbish and other stuff that can clog sewerage pipes and sometimes cause raw sewage to overflow in the streets. Which is exactly what happened earlier this year in Perth, ugh yuck. The sewerage spill was so bad that a concert by singer Bryan Adams had to be cancelled leading to some disappointed fans.

PASSENGERS: # Those were the best days of my life… #

Roger Cook, WA Premier: It's incredibly inconvenient and disappointing for them. At the end of the day, we are focused on public safety and of course we stand by the decision that was taken.

But according to people in the sewerage business, these sort of things happen more often than you'd like to think.

Steph Frick, SA Water: They're damaging our pumps, so you might end up with sewerage on the streets or coming up your bathroom or coming up out of your toilet.

This is Steph. She works for SA water which is responsible for the things we flush here in Adelaide. Here at the Bolivar treatment plant, wastewater is cleaned and sent out to farmers and the solids are turned into compost. But sometimes things turn up that should never have been flushed.

Steph Frick: We have found a lot of weird things at the wastewater treatment plant; Batman costumes, rubber chickens, golf balls, fake teeth, all sorts of things.

While most of us know not to flush our Batsuits or mobile phones, some of the things causing problems in our sewerage systems aren't so obvious, like quote unquote "flushable" wipes.

Steph Frick: They say they're flushable but they're definitely not flushable. They cause us a lot of troubles in the network because they don't breakdown.

Steph says flushable wipes along with nappies and sanitary products are a big contributor to fatbergs. Another problem is grease and cooking oil.

Steph Frick: The fats and greases and oils that do make their way through slowly are pushed up to this side of the tank and you can see it's all rising to the top; it's re-solidifying and it's creating these dried-out fatbergs.

Fatbergs cause about forty per cent of sewer blockages in Australia and we're spending millions of dollars each year trying to fix them. And it's not just a problem here. In 2017, a 130 tonne Fatberg was extracted from a London sewer. It weighed as much as 11 double decker buses. That's why Steph says you should think before you flush.

Steph Frick: We can all have a role to play in keeping our wastewater network clean by only putting the four Ps down the toilet, so paper, pee, poo and proof.

I thought there were three P's. Why is there a fourth one now?

Steph Frick: We recently introduced the fourth P, which stands for 'proof', which basically means that any flushable item has actually passed the Australian and New Zealand Flushable Products Standards.

If something's got this logo or this line, it means it will break down as it travels through wastewater networks.

Steph Frick: If there's no logo, it doesn't go down the loo.

So, armed with this knowledge, we can all do our bit to defeat the horror of the fatberg.

Did You Know
Did you know... the word Fatberg... which is a combination of the words Fat and Ice-Berg was first used in 2008 to describe large rock like clumps of cooking fat that washed up on a beach in Wales in the UK. 

FAST FASHION TAX

more than 92 million tonnes of clothing ending up in landfill every year. It's only been made worse by fast fashion which is why France has introduced a tax to try and slow it down. Here's Michelle. 

MICHELLE WAKIM, REPORTER: Welcome to Sloppy Joe's. How can I help you?

JUSTINA WARD, REPORTER: Can I have a t-shirt please.

MICHELLE: That comes to $1.50.

JUSTINA: Oh go on, put in a pair of jeans.

Yep. These days, buying an outfit can be cheaper than a couple of take away coffees. But it hasn't always been that way. Clothes used to be a lot more of a luxury. For a long time, a lot of what we bought in Australia, was made here in Australia from natural fibres, and was generally built to last, so it was something people bought occasionally. But over the years that started to change.

Cheaper materials made from plastics started to replace natural fibres, and shops started to sell more clothes that was made overseas, in countries where people were paid less for their labour. In the 1980s, taxes on imports of clothing and textiles were reduced, so it became cheaper for Australian brands to have their products made overseas. And, at the same time, we started to see the rise in something called "fast fashion".

Fast fashion is clothing that's produced quickly and sold at a cheap price. It's designed to keep up with trends, which change quickly, so we're encouraged to buy something, wear it once or twice, and throw it out.

When the internet came along, it made fast fashion even faster, ultra-fast, in fact. That's the name given to clothes sold by websites like these, which are super cheap and often similar styles to more expensive brands.

INFLUENCER: Let's test Temu. I've seen everyone and their mum order things from here.

INFLUENCER: Shein haul. I ordered all this stuff for spring break.

And we've completely soaked it up.

STUDENT: It's cheap, obviously.

STUDENT: I guess, just like kind of micro trends that happen on the internet. And like, people get crazy about them. They're like, "Oh, my God, I want this".

STUDENT: Everyone these days, especially teenagers, I think they're all just trying to keep up with the tends and nowadays there are a lot of trends and fast fashion supports that.

NINA GBOR, ECO STYLES FOUNDER: This year alone, two of the biggest fast fashion brands are set to make over 2 billion dollars in sales in Australia alone.

New research says Australians are buying more new clothes per person than any other country. On average, we buy 56 new items a year, which is more than one item per week. The average price of these items comes to just $13. But fast fashion comes at a price.

While clothing manufacturing has created jobs and helped grow the economies of developing countries, it's also contributed to some big problems, like poor working conditions, low wages, and forced labour. And there's a huge cost to the environment.

Globally, 92 million tonnes of clothing end up in landfill each year. And a lot of it is sent to developing countries, which is why many experts are calling on governments around the world to step in and do something to slow down ultra-fast fashion.

NINA GBOR, ECO STYLES FOUNDER: Make the clothing industry responsible. I mean, the person who's creating the waste should be responsible for reducing and managing the waste.

And this is exactly what France is planning to do. Not only is France looking to ban the advertising of fast fashion. It's also going to add tax of 10 euros, which is $16 Australian dollars, on every single ultra-fast fashion garment sold.

PROF. VEENA SAHAJWALLA, CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY: We're obviously buying a whole lot more than what we need. The bigger purpose in all this is to really enable us to say we need to slow down this and curb this desire to keep pushing fast fashion.

So, would a tax on fast fashion work in Australia?

STUDENT: I'm just thinking of like Shein right now. Like, all of the clothes are like $10, $5 each. I wouldn't buy it if there's like a tax per item or taxes for the checkout.

STUDENT: If something was more expensive, I wouldn't want to buy it. People want to buy what's cheaper.

STUDENT: I feel like it would probably cause them to buy less just because they cost more. Maybe they'll still buy it but in less quantity.

STUDENT: I think the main target audience for fast fashion is teenagers, and honestly, most teenagers don't have a job, they don't have a lot of money, so they can't afford to be spending lots of money on clothes. So, that will definitely make a difference.

ELECTRONICS RECYCLING AUSTRALIA

WREN: Every year us Aussies produce more than 600,000 tonnes of e waste and it's only expected to get worse in the next 5 years. So to help us learn more about the problem is Graham. lovely to meet you Gaham! 

GRAHAM: Hi, Lovely to meet you!

WREN: So what are you trying to do to stop E-Waste going to landfill? 

GRAHAM: what we're trying to do is take as much of electrical waste and E waste as possible in through collection to try and process it down ready for its next stage of Journey to where it goes to avoid landfill.

WREN: What sorts of things can actually be recycled here? 

GRAHAM: Okay, we can recycle your laptop, your TV, your computer modem, router, your E scooter, your E bike, your smart watch, your the kids toys that have batteries in it. You any think with a battery or a plug or connects to electricity. It could be the esky, refrigerated esky, literally anything that's electrical or has a battery in it, we will recycle,

WREN: amazing. So the list is very long.

GRAHAM: There isn't a list because we've never stopped.

WREN: So when someone brings in, say, like, their laptop, how do you actually recycle that?

GRAHAM: first, everything will come into our sorting area, and then we'll sort it into its different categories. And laptops is one of the categories. We'll get the laptop. We'll take it to our disassembly line for laptops, where they'll remove all of the screws, remove the batteries, and then separate it into its components of glass and plastic. And then the other valuable item, which is your printed circuit for where all the precious metals are stored. And they'll go into separate areas. And then once we get enough of each of those, they'll be sent off to for a tertiary processing scheme.

WREN: So why is all of this so important? 

GRAHAM: It's important because the metals in these devices are very hazardous to the environment once they get into the soil. There are severe safety issues of it leaching into the ground and getting back into our water streams and food stream.

WREN: And it's not just E waste that you guys are recycling here. It's mattresses as well, correct?

GRAHAM: Yes, we started about six years ago recycling mattresses very, very small. We're now on track to do about 36,000 mattresses a year and to a level of recycling of excess of 90% what that means is 90% of the material will go back to be remade into something, whether it be energy, steel, foam, underlay for carpets, compost from the wood or textiles, we make sure as much as possible can go back for reuse.

WREN: and let's say, and for people who want to bring their things here to be recycled, how do they go about doing that?

GRAHAM: We have a program called unplug and drop, which is at a lot of the Bunning stores. We also work in partnership with numerous other places like savers, Office works and various other all up. If you go to our website, you'll see about approximately 80 locations around the state. We also work with most of the councils and waste transfer depots, so your E waste more than likely will end up here if you lived in South Australia

WREN: Well, Graham, thank you so much for your time. I've certainly learned something, and I'm sure you guys have too.

MICROPLASTIC CONFERENCE 

Finally today we're going to take a look at a tiny bit of waste that's causing huge problems - microplastic. Joe found out about where microplastics come from, why they're a problem, and what's being done to try to get rid of them.

ADVERTISEMENT: Juicy, tender, ocean-fresh fish, garnished with secret seasoning for that 21st century flavour. Joe's seafood; it's the human-made touch.

DIRECTOR: Aaaand, cut! Well mate the commercial looks great! Fish looks amazing… do you mind asking, what iss the secret seasoning?

JOE: He he, if I told you it wouldn't be a secret now, would it?

JOE: Don't say a word.

JOE BARONIO, BTN REPORTER: Yep, turns out a lot of the food we eat has a not-so-pleasant secret ingredient, microplastics. And while no one is deliberately sprinkling it in, humans are to blame. Here in Australia, we produce about 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, but only 13% of it actually gets recycled. In some countries, it's even worse than that. All those pesky plastics break down over time into tiny particles called micro and nano plastics. Microplastics can also come from things like health and beauty products that use tiny beads or glitter, and fibres from synthetic fabrics like clothes. But while these plastics become almost invisible, they never actually disappear.

PROFESSOR MARK TAYLOR, ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AUTHORITY VICTORIA: What it appears from the research is that there are places and times when it's actually raining microplastics. So inside our homes, it's raining microplastic dust, whether it's from the curtains, the clothes we use, or the plastic utensils or from the flooring, the vinyl flooring, or the wood flooring, with varnish on it.

In the ocean, currents carry microplastics far and wide. They even show up frozen in Arctic sea ice! The ocean locals like fish and sea birds sometimes mistake the plastic particles for food, and that's also how they can end up on our plates.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MELANIE MACGREGOR, FLINDERS UNIVERSITY: What we know is that they are in our bodies. We found micro and nano plastic in our blood, we found them in our brain in the heads, we found them in the guts, but are they harmful? We're not sure yet.

PROFESSOR MARK TAYLOR: The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. So, we should act in the assumption it's causing a problem.

Around the world, authorities are trying to tackle the problem, like in Europe where glitter and some products containing microplastics have been banned, and in Australia, there are container recycling schemes and bans on single-use plastics like straws and cutlery, and here at Australia's first-ever Nano and Microplastic conference, scientists are sharing new ideas.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MELANIE MACGREGOR: We've got a company that is called Alkane. They are trying to develop bacteria. So, the little bugs that are capable of eating plastic, so plastic is their food and then they're producing gas that we can then use as an energy source.

But they say we all have a role to play in tackling this big, tiny problem.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MELANIE MACGREGOR: Buy less plastic, throw out less plastic, reuse things, and for kids and children that are still deciding on what to do themselves, well, they can come and study science and help us find about the risk and the health impact of microplastic because we need all hands on deck.

Closer
Well that's all we have for this BTN special on Waste. Thanks to Electronic Recycling Australia for showing us around and if you want to check out more specials like this one you can jump on the BTN website. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time!