Sunday 3 December 2017

Warrnambool plastic spill: ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER.

So, WHO IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE for environmental disasters? Who says environmental disasters aren't political?


Yep. This page was set up as an early response by some members of our local community to a spill of probably billions of little plastic beads used in the production of plastic  utensils. The page is great for raising awareness and for seeking help to clean up the spill of nurdles on South West Victorian beaches.

https://www.facebook.com/nurdles3280/?pnref=story

AND due to this page via  Colleen Hughson and the resulting big hearted community response and the consequent news items in the Standard and on TV, the EPA has escalated the spill of nurdles from Warrnambool’s Sewage Treatment Plant to a Class 2 Emergency under Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley. It's an environmental disaster and it would have been much worse without the quick response of a number of local people.


I get into trouble all the time because 'they' say I make these issues political. But it isn't me making them political. THEY ARE POLITICAL!

Some evil bastard company dumped God knows how many of these pollutants into the sewage system and Wannon Water's systems were unable to filter them out. So, they were washed out to sea where many still remain in the currents being carried far away to other beaches or dissolved into a toxic sludge or being eaten by creatures, (they turn into a toxic sludge in rock pools too) but it's assumed that most have been washed onto our beaches along the coast from Peterborough to Yambuck, just passed Port Fairy. Here's a picture of some nurdles and other plastic debris collected from Warrnambool's Shelly Beach.


So let's analyse this ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME SCENE.

The EVIL BASTARD who threw away God knows how many truck fulls of nurdles ( little non-biodegradable, plastic beads used in the manufacture of drink bottles and any other plastic thing that has been tossed away and now covers the earth from pole to pole, in the oceans, rivers, grasslands, farms, mountains ) may never be found. How do you trace such an act? And, if it can't be traced then how can it be controlled? http://www.epa.sa.gov.au/environmental_in…/…/illegal_dumping



Wannon Water pleads innocence and initially denied the beads came from their waste water treatment plant. It was only after the public response that Wannon Water took the situation seriously and admitted that the beads had passed through their filter systems. Now, they're acting holier than thou and cooperating with the authorities. BIG DEAL!
http://www.wannonwater.com.au/…/sewag…/nurdles-response.aspx



DELWP Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning have a, as in ONE, machine that rakes the beach, sifting the sand for nurdles. ONE machine...not huge....not even BIG. ( Hope it doesn't kill any endangered species like...you know...the Hooded Plovers )





Here's a photo of Warrnambool City Councillor, Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club captain and my hard working husband, David Owen, collecting nurdles from Warrnambool beach near the Surf Club.


The local community response to this State Environmental Emergency has been astounding because SOME Warrnambool people are generally good people who actually care about our environment. Without them, who knows how long it would have taken the authorities to pay attention.






So WHO IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE for such disasters? The answer lies in the question, why ARE billions of tonnes of nurdles produced each year and why oh why, did some company employees ( one presumes it was a manufacturer ) have so many in EXCESS that they broke the law by dumping them in our sewage?


Logic tells us that the answer is very simple. Manufacturing and chemical companies produce billions of tonnes of these un-biodegradable, fossil fuel sourced and dirty, fossil fuel energy manufactured nurdles, simply because... THEY CAN!

Not one government in the world has banned single use, non-biodegradable plastic. So who is at fault? It's the GOVERNMENT stupid!

And you wonder why I campaign for the Greens?

https://www.facebook.com/nurdles3280/?pnref=story

https://greens.org.au/news/tas/senate-adjournment-speech-scourge-marine-plastics


https://greens.org.au/news/vic/greens-urge-victorian-government-ban-plastics-immediately-following-senate-report-0


And the Weekly Times reported it but got a number of things WRONG. http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/microplastic-beads-dumped-in-warrnambool/news-story/1d5cbb66b02d17bb5f167cc09eac6229

The following comment was submitted by John Drake but not published:

The article is misleading on a number of key points. The vast majority of people on the beaches cleaning up this environmental disaster were not and are not organised by Wannon Water. There is no link at all. They are not Wannon Water's teams but community volunteers and school children who responded to the crisis after a member of the public spotted the contaminants on a beach near the sewage outfall about three days after the spill began. The volunteers were on the beaches for over a week before Wannon Water got involved with the cleanup. It has taken nearly two weeks for authorities to declare this emergency, despite being alerted by representatives of community groups and environmental agencies. The mechanical beach cleaner is of limited use and utterly impractical on the most contaminated beaches. This is apparently the first incident of its kind on the Australian coast, so we all have a lot to learn, mistakes have been and will continue to be made, and we must work together. But lets be clear about one thing; the community led the initial cleanup response with no effective support from Wannon Water and continues to lead the on-ground response.