Sin bin

RECENTLY a tag with a frowning face was attached to my recycling bin.

This made me frown because like most people I take reasonable care to sort rubbish and place it in the correct bin. 

I also use a mulcher, compost bin and worm farm to minimise organic waste and produce free mulch and compost for the garden.

As usual I had put our bins out the evening before pickup day. 

The next morning I noticed that overnight someone else had overfilled our recycling bin with their rubbish, including a lot of non-recyclable soft plastic packaging material. 

This is not uncommon, and my policy is that if I did not put it in the bin it is not my responsibility to remove and sort it.

I shouldn’t have to handle other people’s rubbish. 

Unfortunately for me, the City of Melville chose that day to inspect the bins contents, spotted general waste in my recycling bin and attached the frowney face tag informing me that I was not using the correct bins. 

The person who put this rubbish in my recycling bin probably received a smiley face on their bin.

I am not overly bothered about the expression of the face on my bin tag, but I am concerned that there is a possibility that the Council may not collect incorrectly sorted rubbish.

I have reminded them that once our bins are on the verge we have no control over who puts what in them and their inspections and frowning face tags may well target the wrong people.

Part of the problem is the FOGO system. 

Previously we had a large general waste bin collected weekly. 

For reasons unknown this was replaced with a small red top bin collected fortnightly, providing only approximately one quarter of the previous disposal capacity. 

We find this sufficient, but others evidently do not and put their general waste in the wrong bins, either their own or others. 

I believe it is possible to request a large general waste bin. 

Replacing all these small red top bins with large bins would reduce incorrect disposal without increasing the cost of collection.

Don Melville
Booragoon

Feel free to join in

IN a society that is fast losing its freedoms, I think it is only natural to turn our minds to asking how we could conserve freedom of choice as much as possible. 

When we take a clearheaded view of what is trending, we would realise that these losses are fast taking us down a path we don’t really want to go on, because at the end of it, we would have lost all of them. 

If you stop watching TV for a few days, or for a couple of years, as I have, you start to deprogram your mind from the propaganda and can begin to see the larger picture.

The question is: How shall we preserve a free lifestyle in spite of what is going on?

The answer I’ve come up with is based on a lot of considerations I won’t mention here. What everybody understands is that when you’ve independently got fresh food, shelter, power, and true friends, you’ve got it made. And this is not only possible, but in my view, is going to be essential IF freedoms are going to be protected.

You could call my idea a well-designed sustainable community gardening project, with the emphasis on sustainable, that is, free from dependency on systems that are in the process of breaking down under our very noses. 

For this to happen, a small number of us has to band together.

I want to create a replicable pilot program with people who will be dedicated to making it happen, once they know what it is.

The idea is one whose time has come. Small is beautiful, if it is inclusive of the vulnerable among us, since everyone has something to contribute.

How can we, and the community around us, flourish? Do we keep on depending on system supplies that make us vulnerable to coercion, or do we take our welfare into our own hands?

If you’re interested in finding out more and helping further my idea, give me a call or text on 0415 094 457.  

Carla van Raay
Willagee

Q&A

“WE need to be asking questions!” is the call.

Fremantle residents requested a special electors’ meeting to discuss Covid vaccine mandates. Fair enough, democracy in action. 

It is well outside the council’s jurisdiction, so where was the invite for an epidemiologist who could actually answer questions about this infectious disease? (They might have participated remotely..) 

A chance for respectful dialogue – and learning. 

Alan Payne
South Fremantle