[LINK] Surveillance in extremis

[Adam Todd]

>Well, no one would call Ryde council left wing, but neither would anyone
>other than Vic put the same tag on the NSW government. Both are dominated
>by the ALP Right machine.

There is a fine line between ALP and LIB these days, so fine most of us 
can't see it.

>The issue is potentially a green one though - tracking rubbish volume
>enables the option of charging based on waste generated, putting a
>price incentive on the consumer to avoid high-waste packaging and
>increase re-use and recycling. There are issue with whether this kind
>of charge falls in accordance with capacity to pay or modify behaviour
>though. The reality in Ryde is anyone's guess.

Yep, up the costs to the citizen who are already suffering at the hands of 
mortgages they will pass on to their children, and debts for bills that are 
ever increasing, and high fuel costs.

All this is going to do is cause people, a minority, but people non the 
less, to be more cautious of what they put in their bins, and to illegally 
dump the excess or other items they can't get rid of.

Councils need to be more responsible for the money they are paid.  They 
need to have Lead Battery recycling.

Would you believe I was TOLD to and I quote "mix up some cement, cover the 
battery in it and dump it in your bin."

That advice came from the Council (Baulkham Hills of course), the Lead 
Battery Recycler who said otherwise it was going to cost me $130 upwards 
per Seal lead acid battery, and to my most unexpected shock, the Recylcing 
Authority or whatever they call themselves.

What I find irresponsible is the volume of SLA batteries I'm finding in 
Council Cleanups - in those "battery powered cars" that every parent had to 
buy for their kids.  (I picked up a couple for the powerful motors and a 
couple that worked which I replaced the batteries in and reconditioned for 
the kids, cost me nothing for the sometimes $150 toys.)

These "throw aways" are being left for compaction and dumped into land 
fill.  And here I am with about 30 SLA batteries on my verandah and no way 
to dispose of them.

Oh hang on, I've got some holes to fill around my place and I did want to 
widen a cement path.  What better fill to use than these premade, weighty 
bricks!  And I'll only need a fraction of the cement and land fill!