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“This is the Kiwi…”
Yep, sure is – I’ve seen the “watch for Kiwis” signs on the road up north as well as a million touristy iterations of this little chap. There he was, all stuffed and immaculately presented among other flightless birds including the cassowary.
“…now if you have a look at the Kiwi’s egg it is roughly 1/3 of the adults body size” Ouch! This egg was almost as big as the egg of a great big cassowary mounted beside it. And then upon noticing my wince I was offered; “it does take a good while to lay it.”
Oh … really?
Then, my guide at the Auckland Museum turned to me and said, “You know, this leads us to one of the main reasons why New Zealanders, or Kiwi’s, identify so strongly with this bird. When they are born they are almost completely independent (that big egg helps with that no doubt), and within a short time they can defend themselves with those powerful legs.”
Aha! Well, it’s my last day in New Zealand and this little nugget of wisdom is ringing true with a lot of my experiences of the people of this fantastic country I had the great fortune to visit. It’s not that different to the Australian ethos: we have our own identity, we are proud of our own achievements and we are a pretty crafty bunch on the whole. Suffice to say, there is not much a Kiwi can’t achieve given a backyard shed, some basic tools, and a bit of know how. But, even Kiwis need to come together and share ideas. The WasteMINZ conference is one such place.
For three days, The Sky City Convention Centre was the designated venue packed with conference-y goodness. The conference theme was The Value of Good Science. The NZ Government was spruiking their waste strategy – “reducing harm and improving efficiency” — with an ETS on the way to include Landfills with mandatory reporting by 2012.
While the conference had a strong contaminated land issues component, my interests lead to the behavioural change stream. It was interesting to see how similar the challenges addressed in New Zealand were to those in Australia, including: reducing contamination of kerbside collected recyclables and organics, educating children about waste and sustainability, getting the community to use appropriate waste services and providing training specific to waste management and recycling industry.
On reflection of my time at the conference, I would like to share a couple of solid take-home messages.
Firstly, there was the constant reminder that good science relies on good data. Often, getting this good data is one of the biggest challenges in the waste industry. How can we make reasonable evaluations of systems based on scant data or data derived from flawed methodology?
Dr Jan Wright, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, made the second message most eloquently when she reminded us that science reduces uncertainty, but it does not give certainty. One of the most common conclusions of scientific reports is that more study is required. At some point though, we have to know how much science is required to make a decision and begin to act.
The third take home message was that next time I apparently have to see the South Island because it will blow my mind!
WasteMINZ was well run, well co-ordinated, and well attended. I made many great new contacts and shared many ideas with people, including much time spent discussing the differences and similarities of what our two countries were doing with waste and recycling.
New Zealand is pure, the challenge is for people to keep it that way (at least until I get a chance to see the South Island anyway). In the words of our fantastic final day motivational “attitude doctor” – Dr Tom Mulholland – “the most exciting thing about life is you don’t know what is going to happen next; let’s hope it is something good, eh bro?”
I would like to thank the Young Professionals Working Group again for this fantastic experience. It is most certainly one that I will never forget!
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2010 WMAA YP Scholarship Recipient report
Tom Brideson Water + Waste Innovations, New South Wales) attended Enviro 2010 Conference, Melbourne
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Scholarship Success for Local Waste Management Consultant
Water + Waste Innovations Consultant Tom Brideson, has been successful in winning the Waste Management Association of Australia Young Professionals Scholarship for 2010.
Tom was one of two recipients of the scholarship which was open to all young professionals involved in the waste management industry from across Australia.
The scholarship enabled Tom to attend the Enviro 2010 Conference and Exhibition held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in July 2010. This conference is one of the waste industry’s premier events and this year featured a focus on Solutions for a Sustainable Future.
“I found the conference presentations to be inspiring, educational and innovative. The waste management industry is evolving rapidly and has an important role to play in Australia’s increased focus on sustainability. The opportunity to draw on the experiences of waste management facilitators in the other States of Australia and overseas allows me to further improve the service that I provide to my clients,” he said.
“I was able to discuss and share with others the importance of increasing awareness of the benefits of waste audits for business and the results that can be achieved,” Tom stated. “I believe that if organisations increase their focus on waste management they will present themselves with an excellent opportunity to not only assist their local communities by reducing the burden on landfill, but improve their own overall environmental performance through reduced carbon footprint.”
Applications for the scholarship were evaluated based on a written submission demonstrating the professional and personal benefit that the winner would attain by attending the conference, as well as wider thinking on issues impacting the waste industry.
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2008 WMAA YP Scholarship Recipient report
Heidi Robertson (Department of Environment and Climate Change, NSW) attended the Climate for Change Conference 2008, South Australia
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I was quite surprised and pleased to receive this scholarship. While initially it was a rush to organise, (I found out I was successful 2 days before the conference started), it was an interesting and fun learning experience.
Compared to past positions, my current position at the DECC has a greater focus on waste and resource recovery. Therefore, this scholarship was a great way to focus my professional learning and development, and further my understanding of resource recovery.
The South Australian conference – A Climate for Change – consisted of a 1-day field trip and 2 days of the conference itself.
It was invaluable to meet a variety of people, such as waste and recycling service providers, landfill and MRF operators, consultants, local Councillors, waste education officers and policy officers. Hearing a variety of views, knowledge and experiences will always broaden your own perspective, and the trip certainly did broaden my view.
South Australia and New South Wales have different strengths and successes. Much depends on the economic situation, demographics and dominant waste materials. I found seeing and experiencing the industry, facilities and issues in South Australia gave me a good understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement here. Looking to other organisations and regions, particularly on the field trip, will teach us about what we are doing well, how to do things better and promote new ideas for the strategic focus. I certainly gained all these from the conference and visit to Adelaide.
Overall, the people I met and the facilities I visited broadened my knowledge and experience and the large number of issues discussed.
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