Go back to where you came from

Just finished watching the amazing SBS documentary "Go Back to Where you Came From"

This was an important show that was emotionally powerful yet manages to presents the subtle complexities surrounding the  international refugee issue.

What gives me great hope is the nature of the responses seen on the SBS site. One in particular, from 'Grace' struck a chord:

"Illegal immigrants"
A lot of people keep using the word "illegal" asylum seekers and refugees are not illegal immigrants. "Asylum seekers who enter Australia without a valid visa by sea or plane are not illegal. They are permitted to enter without prior authorisation because this right is protected by Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention which recognises that there is good cause for their unauthorised entry because they are in an emergency situation. Consequently, no Australian law criminalises the act of arriving in Australia without a valid visa for the purposes of seeking asylum."

I wish more Australian's would remember this - not the mention the fact that unless they are indigenous, their forebearers were also immigrants - many of whom may have been asylum seekers, refugees or even, god-forbid, convicted criminals!

Addendum: Have a look at this fact sheet that Crikey put together and this letter from a refugee in madatory detention.

Disposable world part 2 (this time it's the TV)

Our 5 year old - and very expensive Philips TV died the other day.  Once again it is not worth repairing.  Bloody disposable world

This time, my complaint is related to why is it so hard to recycle electronic waste - or ewaste - in Australia?

Lane Cove Council collects ewaste only once or twice a year - which is no where near enough -  and they have not even announced a date for this year.

There are lots of private companies (see Recycling Near You) but many of them charge or have limitations. I've now requested quotes from http://www.ewaste.com.au/ and http://planetgreenrecycling.net.au/

Many other part of the world have mandatory recycling or manufacturer take-back program but here - a National Electronic Waste recycling scheme was announced a year ago but nothing has happened.  The Reborn initiative even helped force the nation's environment ministers to endorse a new National Waste Policy. Likewise Product Stewardship Australia was supposed to be a "national solution for managing post-consumer TVs." But all they have is press releases - no real action.

Companies need to be pressured by the market or legislated by government to fully internalise the otherwise externalised environmental cost of picking up and recycling equipment that breaks or is superceded. Ironically enought, this is what Philips agreed to do in the UK after a large campaign to shame the company into taking back and recycling its products .

Consumer lead initiatives like Take Back My TV  and A Greener Apple are a great start - as is  but again they focus on the US and allow Australian companies to ignore the problem... and, as C|NET notes this problem is not going away:

According to the United Nations (UN), electronic and electrical waste is among the fastest-growing types of trash in the world. StEP, which is a special initiative set up by the UN to look at the e-waste problem, estimates that e-waste will soon reach 40 million tonnes a year or enough to fill a line of dump trucks stretching half way round the world.

Of course, having a recycling scheme in place will only means something if its done responsibility. Not illegally shipped off to China, Ghana or Nigeria where the poorest people get horribly ill from processing our ewaste.

As the 60 Minutes wrote in the US:

Scientists have studied the area and discovered that Guiyu has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world. They found pregnancies are six times more likely to end in miscarriage, and that seven out of ten kids have too much lead in their blood.

See also

• Greenpeace operation webpage and on YouTube 
• BBC expose 
• PBS program 
• Sydney Morning Herald article 

or watch