E – Waste epidemic

An innovative website is shining light on an E-waste epidemic plaguing the streets of inner south Sydney.

Created by a Redfern-Waterloo resident, thisissouthsydney.com chronicles the masses of analogue television sets scattering nature strips of the area.

The website’s originator, who prefers to be known only by the Twitter name @thisissouthsyd (TISS), photographs and records the TVs, dumped in increasingly large numbers on the streets of Sydney.

Created a few years ago, the website allows TISS to receive tip-offs from like-minded locals, regarding new TVs to document.

TISS says: “People tell me about them now, it’s fantastic. I have realised that I always have to have a camera phone with me…four in one day is a record.”

The website was created 5 years ago after TISS moved to the area and began noticing the unusually large numbers of television sets gathering on street sides.

@thisissouthsyd’s home page states: “In the inner city villages of South Sydney, abandoned TVs proliferate like ibises around garbage bins. TVs – of all shapes and sizes, of all vintages and technologies, cluster on pavements and roadsides.”

Seeking out unloved televisions on the Redfern-Waterloo streets originally began as a humorous hobby, but soon became something more substantial.

“We used to try to spot one as a competition…as a joke. I eventually thought I’d create a website…someone had to do it, there are so many.

“There are constantly TVs abandoned everywhere…I have lived everywhere, and I’ve never seen as many as in south Sydney,” TISS says.

TISS rarely has to look far to find subject material and captures what the website describes as ‘the detritus of the post-modern age’ and ‘road kill on the slippery slope of consumerism’, in a naturalistic style.

“I don’t really go out of my way, I just find them…they are always in the same streets in the same areas.

“I just capture them as they are…I don’t have a fancy camera, and I am definitely not a professional photographer.”

E-waste, a term encompassing any unused electrical appliances, either in a state of disrepair or simply obsolete, including fridges, microwaves, mobile phones and computers, is an issue of increasing concern to the City of Sydney Council.

Council’s Sustainability Media officer, Jon Walter says: “We encourage all residents to take advantage of our collection services and do their part to reduce waste, recycle more and cut down on the amount of waste sent to landfill.”

In a release from July 2 this year, Council calls for the Federal government to urgently implement its proposed electronic waste recycling scheme to save old TVs from landfill.

The Lord Mayor Clover Moore said: ”For every new television purchase, we risk an old one ending up in landfill leaching toxic chemicals into our waterways.

“Despite the start of the national rollout of digital television on June 30, the Federal government has yet to prioritise its e-waste recycling legislation.”

Council’s view is one that TISS shares, but points out the need for residents to take responsibility.

“I am in awe of the work City of Sydney do, but people think it is ok to just dump rubbish and not be responsible for it. “

@thisissouthsyd tells the story of neighbors emptying the entire contents of their home onto their nature strip.

“It was like a furniture vomit, a whole lounge room…it is really annoying. Who do they think will clean up the mess?

TISS anticipates the change in TV technology will only worsen the issue of E-waste in the area.

“Televisions have become very disposable; they have a lifespan of 2 years, tops.

“They are a status symbol…they have dramatically dropped in price.”

There are some positive examples of E-waste management to be seen in Redfern-Waterloo, however these are few and far between.

TISS says: “There is a man who lives in the area who collects them (TVs) and breaks them down.

“He gets money from the materials that he takes to recycling stations.”

While @thisissouthsyd believes the website is “a quirky way to shine a light on a part of South Sydney”, TISS acknowledges the Redfern-Waterloo area faces a unique E-waste issue as many residents live in Council housing.

TISS met a local who was dumping a TV and asked them why.

“There is a constant flow of hand me down TVs… they have more than they know what to do with.”

Jon Walter from Council says at present there has been no change to the Federal Government’s policy on E-waste and there are no plans to increase Council’s collection days to more than 4 per year.

The City of Sydney’s next E-waste collection will be Sunday September 12 at Bay Street Depot, Ultimo.

By Meaghan Kirby