Latest news with #JonRaven
ABC News
24-06-2025
- General
- ABC News
Can you take items from other people's kerbside collection?
James Straker has been collecting things off the streets since he could drive. "Having things doesn't make me happy, but finding things does," the 53-year-old from Brisbane/Meanjin says. "Part of the fun is deep diving. A surfboard I found, I learnt all about who that surfboard maker was, contacted him, and asked if he wanted it back. "I find glass bottles from the early 1900s and research the companies — who they were and what they did." It means Brisbane City Council's kerbside collection calendar is something James follows closely. But he says there's a certain etiquette to hunting through other people's hard rubbish. The laws around salvaging or taking items that would otherwise be destined for landfill are decided by your local council. The advice in most capital cities is that any junk left on the kerb for council collection is fair game. City of Logan Mayor Jon Raven says council is "very happy" for people to take items waiting for kerbside collection. "People doing scavenging and removing things that can be recycled diverts things from landfill and has an economic impact," Cr Raven says. While it's generally accepted that people are welcome to rummage through one another's kerbside collections, Brisbane City Council's chair of city standards Councillor Sarah Hutton says they encourage people to be mindful when doing so. "While there are no specific regulations around people taking items off the kerb, we do obviously encourage residents to be considerate and respectful. "[Ensuring] you don't smash anything … or cover the footpath," she says for example. Cr Raven says leaving the pile tidy is important, which also helps "maintain street pride". While James doesn't ask property owners before taking items, he often ends up chatting to them anyway. "I really like meeting strangers. "I've had instances where I go back inside to help someone move more stuff out, and they will say 'My dad has a bunch of records, do you want them?'" Cr Raven says there are people who supplement their income from travelling around the city collecting items from the kerb to upcycle and sell. One of James's most iconic finds was a book filled with religious stories printed in 1790. "It was the most beautiful book I've been able to touch," he says. "It was in the back of Kelvin Grove, just sitting in a laundry basket with some other old books. "I sold it the next day for $300, but it was probably worth more than that." James says he goes through waves of emotions when he comes across a great find. "I get upset someone would throw it out, then I get really excited they threw it out. "Some people just don't see the value in some things." Cr Raven says the kerbside collection service is especially helpful for those who can't dispose of their own hard rubbish. "It's sometimes hard when you have units or townhouses … there can be up to three semitrailer loads of waste in the one driveway. "But often it's the people who live in units who have the most need; they might not have a ute, or are retirees or people with disability." He says people love the "egalitarian nature" of kerbside pick-up. "Kerbside is available for everybody, whether they are renters or ratepayers — nobody misses out." Are you good at getting free stuff, or making money from upcycling? We'd love to hear about your best hacks. Share your story here. Acceptable items will vary across Australia, but generally items such as whitegoods, furniture, carpet, rugs and bikes are able to be left out for collection. Most councils won't accept items including hazardous waste, car batteries, bricks and concrete, gas bottles, glass and mirrors. In some areas, including Logan, all items are crushed on the truck and taken to landfill. But Brisbane, for example, has a recycling truck which comes around to select items that can be recycled or sold at in their "trash and treasure" type stores, before the clean-up team arrives. Cr Hutton says there have been some amazing items picked up by their teams over the years. "Pianos … also some vintage furniture, which has gone for top dollar at our treasure trove stores. "There are a lot of great things that go out on the kerb, and if people can find a second life for these, then great."
ABC News
17-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Logan City Council to pull out of federal government Climate Active program due to financial pressure, transparency concerns
Queensland's only certified carbon neutral council is set lose that title, blaming the rising cost of delivering services and successive natural disasters for its inability to fund the process. Logan City Council, south of Brisbane, said it also had concerns around transparency and where the funds it was paying to be certified were going. The council is one of 14 local governments around Australia registered with the federal government's Climate Active program. To achieve carbon neutrality through the Climate Active program, businesses or organisations calculate their emissions from their operations and then seek to reduce them through technological or operational changes. The remainder is offset by buying carbon credits. Logan Mayor Jon Raven said leaving the program would save the council about $1.5 million, which it is spending on overseas carbon credits each year. Mr Raven said the council did a lot of carbon offsetting itself, through running rooftop solar on its building, generating natural gas from landfill and hydrogen from wastewater treatment. "[But] no one's been able to confirm where that money goes or show us any concrete evidence it is actually being spent to improve the environment. "I don't believe we were carbon neutral when we were just sending money overseas to projects no one could confirm existed. Carbon credits are a way for organisations like governments or businesses to pay for emissions-reducing projects, both in Australia or overseas, and use credits generated by these projects to offset their own emissions. Climate Active does not trade carbon credits. Instead, organisations go through online marketplaces and third parties to purchase eligible offsets. But the certification scheme has seen an exodus of companies leaving it in recent years. More than 100 companies, including Telstra, NRMA, Australia Post and major super funds have left Climate Active in the last 19 months. There have been calls to shut down the program over concerns about the efficacy of offset schemes. Australian National University regulatory and environmental markets expert Professor Andrew Macintosh said there was a lack of integrity when it came to both national and international carbon credits. Professor Macintosh is a non-executive director of Paraway Pastoral Company, which operates a number of carbon offset projects. "People have got carbon credits for making changes or reductions in emissions that would've occurred anyway," he said. He said there has been concern over some types of carbon credits being used on projects like wind farms in India that were already fully viable, while in Australia there were concerns another type of credit was being bought for natural forest regeneration in areas where there were no trees. "Talking to clients, talking to friends, I recommend they don't be certified under Climate Active because of the concerns about carbon offsets, because of transparency," he said. "This is one of the real tragedies, there are good projects out there and they're being tarred by the fact that both our government and other schemes around the world have allowed bad projects and rotten credits to be issued," Professor Macintosh said. "Logan City Council was certainly trying to do the right thing, but they probably can't tell the difference between good and bad credits." A spokesperson from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water — which oversees Climate Active — said the government was "actively considering the future direction of the Climate Active program". "We recognise that Climate Active needs reform and that work is under way as a priority that will involve proper consultation," they said. "The Climate Active program continues to operate, certifying entities that have met the program requirements." The spokesperson said the federal government continues to work to ensure the integrity of the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme following recent reviews by the Climate Change Authority, independent experts and the Australian National Audit Office. "These reviews have found the ACCU Scheme is well designed, well administered, and contributing to Australia's transition to net zero by 2050," they said. The ABC understands six local governments have voluntarily withdrawn from the program in the past five years. Professor David Karoly from the Climate Council said the only way to slow climate change was by reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. "If we want to offset, we have to get it out of the atmosphere and store it away permanently," he said. He said for a carbon offset to make a difference it had to be "long-term in terms of storage, high-quality… and defensible and demonstrable in terms of reductions in emissions". "All of those issues for many of the international offsets are very hard to determine," Professor Karoly said. He said there needed to be stricter international quality assurance controls of offsets. Professor Karoly said there were a range of initiatives local governments could undertake to reduce emissions, including installing solar powers, upgrading their fleets to electric vehicles and planting more vegetation and trees. Mr Raven said the Logan council would use the money saved from funding carbon credits to buy degraded land for revegetation, purchasing high-quality habitat to protect it, as well as other local carbon offset projects. "It will mean we aren't carbon neutral certified, but it will mean we can say your ratepayer dollars are being spent in our city to the benefit of the environment," he said. "We've got no confidence that was happening with this program."
ABC News
11-05-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Logan council drone survey maps out koala habitat tohelp protect endangered species
A buzzing sound fills the usually calm evening air on the edge of a forest in Logan, south of Brisbane. The sun sinks fast, taking the warmth with it and bringing an autumn chill. Locals begin gathering near a group of people clustered around monitors. They wonder: 'What's going on? What is that noise?'. Then they see it — a drone about the size of a bedside table, hovering in the dark. A powerful spotlight beams from beneath it, scanning the surrounding bushland. Operators are using thermal cameras, mounted to the drone, to detect heat signatures in their search for koalas and other endangered animals that call the area home. It's part of a large count of the marsupials underway to try and better protect their habitat. "What we see from the sensors is like a light bulb inside a tree," operator Jason Young said. "We go and take a closer look, and we have a very, very bright light that we turn on and then a high-definition camera that we can zoom in … while maintaining that distance away from the animal. He's searching for the koalas on behalf of the Logan City Council, who are undertaking a census of their population to better understand the local numbers. Mayor Jon Raven said this $25,000 project was the first time the council had undertaken an extensive, detailed and accurate study of the region's koala population. "So that means it's really important we get out there and find these koalas and understand how they're moving through our city." The data, Mr Raven said, would also be used to help determine future planning needs for the city. "The data that we collect through this will inform our new planning scheme and help us to make sure that the wildlife corridors we already have strategically mapped out across the city are fit for purpose — now and into the future." While new for Logan, it's not the first time drones have been used to count koala populations. Other searches have taken place on the Gold Coast and in across north Queensland. Queensland's Environment Department also has their own similar technology. "It hasn't been around for very long … it's pretty new." But conservationists believe — while studying population numbers is a good start — more needs to be done to protect koala habitat. "It's good that we're looking to see how many koalas they are, because south-east Queensland is critical for koala," Dave Copeman from the Queensland Conservation Council said. "The koala is endangered, and we are seeing numbers dropping. "We don't have a current census, and so this counting is really important, because we need to know if the precipitous decline in koala numbers has stabilised or not." An update to the Queensland government's koala conservation strategy is expected this year, as are several other counts of populations around the state. But Mr Copeman said he was concerned by large Priority Development Areas (PDAs) earmarked across south-east Queensland — including large housing developments in Logan, Ipswich and Moreton — that were planned for land on, or near, koala habitat. "If you're putting roads through koala habitat, you see more car strikes. If you're building houses in there, you get more dog attacks, and ultimately also the more koalas are compressed, you see higher stress in the population, and that results in less resilience and greater disease," he said. "So, the most important thing councils can do is protect the habitat that's there and be involved in restoring areas. "The science is clear. We need to [be building] up, not out." He suggested this could involve more "gentle density" in areas that already had stronger population bases. "If we keep doing these giant new PDA developments in the last vestiges of remnant forest in south-east Queensland, we are signing a death warrant for the koala," he said. It would also benefit the community and economy, according to Mr Copeman. "It means that you're not sprawling out and then requiring more expensive developments of schools and services," he said. "That's the best result for south-east Queensland nature.
