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| Sandra Kanck Deputy Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
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Legislative
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| Sandra Kanck Deputy Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
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The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Transport and Urban Planning, representing the Minister for Environment and Heritage, a question about oil recycling.
Leave granted.
The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: I was shocked to learn that our State's Environment Protection Agency is advising personnel from automotive repair workshops who ring seeking advice about the disposal of oil filters from cars, trucks, buses, and so on that they should simply put them in the bin for standard waste collection. Effectively, the EPA is advising that oil filters, which contain, amongst other things, pollutants such as zinc, phosphorous, barium, iron, nickel and lead, should be disposed to landfill. That, in turn, raises the likelihood of the pollutants leaching into the watertable. Oil is a non-renewable resource that can be recycled. Yet, every time a car oil filter goes to landfill, up to half a litre of oil can be tossed away and, in the case of truck filters, it can be up to two litres of oil. It is estimated that 100 million litres of oil soaks into landfills around Australia every year. If you weigh that against the spillage of 260 000 litres of oil at Port Stanvac recently, the enormity of the practice is exposed. My questions are:
1. Does the Minister consider the disposal of oil filters to landfill to be an environmentally acceptable practice?
2. Have the managers or owners of Adelaide's metropolitan waste dumps been made aware of this practice; if so, what has been their response to it?
3. As there are companies which have the capacity to recycle the remaining oil and the metal from the oil filters, why is the EPA not advocating this practice?
4. Does the Minister believe that the EPA is providing appropriate advice to those in the automotive industry; if so, what is her environmental justification; if not, what remedy does she propose?
The Hon. DIANA LAIDLAW: I will refer that series of questions to the Minister and bring back a reply.
