The Australian Bite
Such a waste! What will it take to make us recycle?
1 April 2010
Listen and download: MP3
Australians buy – and throw away – millions of electronic devices every year, but only a fraction of them are recycled. Mobile phone recycling is already available, and Federal regulation for e-waste such as televisions and computers is on the way, but there’s still a long long way to go. This week on the Australian Bite representatives from the mobile phone and television manufacturing industries talk about what’s been holding us back, and what we do and don’t recycle, and why. We also meet some farmers from Mudgee, New South Wales, who like to milk, not shear their sheep!
The push to step-up e-waste recycling
Australians are buying and discarding millions of electronic devices – like mobile phones, computers and televisions – every year. And the sad fact is that most of them end up in landfill.
In fact a recent survey showed that Australians are holding on to their old mobile phones despite a mobile recycling scheme being readily available. And there’s currently no mandatory recycling scheme for television and computer producers. But all that’s set to change as the push for national recycling laws gathers momentum. On this week’s Bite we meet two industry-based people who are right at the centre of the action on recycling. John Gertsakis is the Chief Executive of Product Stewardship Australia, an industry body representing television manufacturers.
And Rose Read is the recyling manager at the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, which represents the mobile phone industry. They spoke with Richard Aedy, who began by asking Rose Read why Australians are still holding on to millions of mobile phones, despite the “Mobile Muster” recycling scheme introduced by her association.
More info:
Mobile Muster- the official recycling scheme of the moble phone industry in Australia
This interview was originally broadcast on Radio National’s Life Matters program
Forget the wool – where’s the cheese?
Its estimated that there are about 120 million sheep in Australia. But while most Australians have probably eaten lamb, and worn wool, probably not so many have tried sheep’s cheese. That, however is changing, perhaps because of Australians’ growing fascination with TV cooking shows and celebrity chefs. In fact Alan and Gloria Cox, who run Leaning Oak Dairy – a sheep and goat dairy at Mudgee in central west New South Wales - say demand for their sheep’s milk fetta is growing fast. Aimee Volkofsky joined Alan and Gloria in the dairy and on the milking rounds.
More photos at the ABC Rural website
Music (not in podcast)
Melbourne indie folk outfit The Tealeaves say their music is inspired by the era of the great singer-songwriters, including Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel and Don McLean. They released their debut self-titled album in February this year. This beautiful track is called Unspoken and you can watch it below on You Tube
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