Now here's a statistic that will make you sick.

Google: 'award rate garbage truck driver australia'

Result: An early career Garbage Truck Driver with 1-4 years of experience earns an average total compensation of AU$26.32 based on 45 salaries.

Now compare 'caring for people' to 'caring for garbage'

Google: award rate nurse australia

It will bring up a table that says
'Registered nurse with a 4 year degree - entry rate' $26.27

Now lets look at aged care:

Aged Care employee Level 1 - $21.09
Aged Care employee Level 7 - $25.62

So what do we make of this:

That caring for garbage is considered more important than caring for people.

- Think about that -

Aiden,

I don't know where your figures came from, but I don't know how many more figures people need to put out about Australia's shameful waste amounts, whatever it's for and wherever it ends up, including in local ecosystems.

The impacts on birds and wildlife are huge. If the impacts were on humans there'd be more immediate action.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-03-02/balloons-lethal-to-seabirds/10861022

Please also note the other link at the bottom of the link: "There's a soup of rubbish in the Pacific that's almost as big as Queensland". No, it wouldn't all be from Australia, but some of it is, and that's far too much.

It's like climate change deniers. They'll tell you Australia doesn't cause a lot of damage re climate change and want to do nothing about the issue. No thanks!!

NathanJ,
> I don't know where your figures came from,
They're not my figures, they're YOUR figures!
I simply followed the link you provided to see why your figures were so high.

So now I'm puzzled - why did you fail to comprehend it?

Anyway, you're right about balloons. For decades it was widely believed that because of natural degradation they're not a problem. We now know that isn't the case.

Very little of the rubbish in the Pacific is from Australia. Unlike climate change (where we're one of the highest greenhouse gas emitters per capita) our littering rate is low. True, we're not perfect, and there are things that could be done both to reduce the amount of litter and increase its biodegradability. But you seem to have failed to comprehend that this has nothing to do with your 67 million tonnes figure, which includes what is recycled as well as what is disposed of in landfills.

Aiden,

My link, referred to the second film link. Another person posted here that I knew little to nothing about waste overseas which was false.

What is frustrating is people who keep denying waste in Australia is a problem. The WWF has extensive detail on their website.

http://www.wwf.org.au/get-involved/plastics#gs.k8mejh and there are lots of other links via their page.

Then one can go to: http://blogs.nelson.wisc.edu/es112-302-3/waste/

Waste (this would be an earlier dated website)

"In Australia, waste is becoming a major problem due to the population growth. As the population grows, so does the waste per person. Australia produces 48 million tons of waste per year. And according to the NSW Environment and Heritage website, this waste comes from three main sources: household (municipal) waste, commercial and industrial waste, and building and demolition waste. Household waste makes up almost half of all solid waste in Australia, with each person contributing about half a ton each year. Household waste is made up of

3% metal, 6% plastics, 5% glass, 19% paper and cardboard, 56% food scraps and garden waste, 11% other".

Whilst the page, highlights some recycling of items, there really isn't enough focus on the impacts and future matters from creating items needing to be recycled - for example nuclear waste to be disposed of in South Australia:

http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/11/21/unanimous-no-vote-traditional-owners-sas-proposed-nuclear-waste-dump

NathanJ,
> What is frustrating is people who keep denying waste in Australia is a problem.

*A* problem?
Seriously?
You think that waste in Australia is just one problem?
Struth, it's idiotic attitudes like that which I find frustrating?

There are lots of different problems relating to waste in Australia. But they should NOT be conflated. The amount of waste correctly disposed of does not add to the litter problem. And radioactive waste is a completely separate issue.

Here is one more waste disposal problem for you to worry about.
The windfarms that are now being built everywhere have a clause that
the landowner is responsible for the removal of the turbines, towers,
and concrete base at end of life and restoring the land to as original.
The blades seem to be buried as far as I have read probably because
they are fibreglass.
The landowner farmer has to be responsible because the wind generator
company is probably bankrupt at that time.
In the US there are examples of defunct windfarms. Some say the lifetime
is about 20 years.
With hundreds being erected we may be laying up a real problem.