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Good Riddance
From pre-European times to the present, from plague to prosperity, through
pollution, packaging and putrescible waste...
Authors Pauline Curby and Virginia Macleod show that garbage is fascinating
for what it reveals about how people live and how waste continues to shape
our surroundings long after it has been thrown away.
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A history of waste management in Manly, Mosman, Pittwater & Warringah
Beautiful locations such as Curl Curl Lagoon, Balmoral Beach, Careel Bay and
North Steyne Beach were all used as rubbish dumps in earlier years and the
book chronicles the 'bad old days' when waste disposal meant dumping rubbish
so that it was 'out of sight and out of mind', often in environments such as
these.
Good Riddance also looks at waste-disposal in earlier times, with case studies
of the Aboriginal shell middens at Angophora Reserve at Avalon and Balmoral
Reserve
at Mosman.
Kimbriki, the jewel in the recycler's crown
The book includes a case study of Kimbriki Recycling &
Waste Management Centre, managed by the Warringah, Manly, Mosman and Pittwater
Joint Services Committee. Kimbriki is an excellent example of recycling in
action – a
place where the latest technology and environmental best practice are combined & and
it is inspiring to see what is being achieved there.
In 2002–2003 Kimbriki
recorded its most successful recycling year with 74% of resources recovered
from the waste stream of which 93% was recycled and moved off site.
Scavengers and Recyclers
A stuffed emu... a Donald Friend painting... an exotic tiger skin rug... just
some of the treasures discovered by Mary Gibson, the renowned recycler who
held
the salvaging licence at Warringah’s tips for many years.
Some interesting extracts from the book
Attitudes to garbage services:
It is refreshing to find that thoughtfulness
and consideration are still shown by at least one section of the serving community — the
men operating the garbage service — who carry out their duties so quietly
and carefully.
(letter to Warringah Council, 1952)
Garbos are a much abused race...
Mosman Mayor V.H. Parkinson (Mosman Daily July 1969)
As the truck moves off the
garbage is simply scattered all over the street. I would achieve exactly the
same result if I were to stand at my gate and throw my garbage
(letter to Warringah Council, 1969)
 Not in my backyard -
the search for an Incinerator site:
Wanted at once, a complete site
Possessing such virtues as follows:
Level, but high, yet portion must lie
In low and convenient hollows
Far, far removed from sight and from smell
Of those who have votes at elections,
But close to the parts, from whence comes the carts,
With garbage and smellful collections.
(Mosman Daily 30 September 1932)
On the location of a garbage tip:
The public demands that the beaches shall not be used as garbage tips, nor
shall open tips be authorised in residential areas...
(Mosman Daily 18 February 1923)
So beautiful is the tip in the eyes of the alderman that at Mosman they choose
a lovely valley at Balmoral, so the garbage will have the advantage of the
best views and the sea air.
(The Sun, 25 November 1926)
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