Mayor4Unley

Last night at #Unley Council I moved a motion that will reduce the use of plastic bottled drinks dispensed at Council venues. A report on a range of options will come to Council in a few months. This is a great outcome and reflects the growing sentiments of the community. An original motion just targeted plastic water bottles. My amendment targets all drinks that are sold in plastic bottles eg. Coke, Fanta, Pepsi and water. A great outcome for Unley! After the meeting, it was described as a common sense approach. For more common sense outcomes like this Vote 1 BOB SCHNELL #Mayor4Unley Written and authorised by Bob Schnell, 10 Halmon Avenue Everard Park 5035

Just so pleased that my motion to ban plastic straws in Unley was approved by Unley Council on 27 August, 2018. This is a great outcome and reflects the sentiments in the community. During debate, my motion was described by fellow Councillor Michael Hewitson as demonstrating leadership. I will continue to pursue environmentally friendly initiatives at Unley Council. Here is a copy of the motion and background information that I provided ... MOTION: That: 1. That plastic straws be banned from being dispensed at all Council events, Council sponsored events and private functions held at Council venues. 2. The ban on plastic straws being dispensed at Council events, Council sponsored events and private functions held at Council venues take effect from 1 January 2019. 3. Where appropriate, Council promote the use of non-plastic straws eg. those made from paper, hemp and other emerging sources. 4. Dispensation from any plastic straw ban be given to those people in genuine ...

Maybe it’s time to stop drinking bottled water and just drink tap water. Let’s face it, with average bottled water, it’s not much more than filtered tap water. Do yourself a favour and buy a good quality plastic (or metal) drink bottle and use tap water; preferably filtered. Why? To save money. To stop drinking high concentrations of plastic particles. A recent report from the World Health Organisation exposes that after analysis of water samples, more than 90% of the samples contained high concentrations of tiny plastic particles; aka. microplastics. One brand had concentrations as high as 10,000 plastic pieces per litre of water. This is absolutely appalling. Downstream this ends up in the oceans and rivers and in fish that we eat. Just so sad. All due to our buying bottled water. Make the change to tap water and a good quality drink bottle. The cheaper the drink bottle the more likely it is to contaminate. Read the story

The debate has commenced on the proposal to store high level nuclear waste deep underground in the far north of South Australia. It will gain momentum over the next 12 months. The economic benefit to SA is huge. The risk seems to be contained. The people will decide in 1-2 years. It needs to be a well informed and educated decision. The recent issue of Resourcing SA has an excellent article on the subject by Ms Kyra Reznikov who has toured nuclear storage facilities across the globe. The bottom line will be if the people of SA fully understand the storage process and the associated risk; of the waste buried 500m. To put the risk into perspective, Reznikov examines a storage facility under construction in Finland. In the worst case scenario, if the steel/copper canister containing the nuclear waste rods is defective ... then if a person stood on the ground above the facility for one year then they would be exposed to the equivalent of one tenth of a banana! Yes, bananas (and s...

The other day I joined a table of other people for a meeting. I sat next to a woman I knew. We have often passed idle chatter and shared experiences. But, something was wrong and I wished that I had sat elsewhere. The perfume she was wearing was strong and just didn’t suit her; it wasn’t her. In fact, the scent was too old for her. Thinking about it, I would not have found it pleasant on an older woman. I remember some years back at work, in separate incidents, I passed some honest comments to a couple of women about the colour of their tops. I’m into giving honest feedback; and sometimes it is unsolicited. Years later, and only recently, I was surprised to learn through a friend that those two women to whom I had provided feedback had never worn those tops again. One gave hers to the Salvos, the other handed it down to her sister. I sorta felt bad about it, but it quickly became a passing thought. Friends should be able to pass on honest feedback. So, back to the woman si...

I was fascinated by news of a study by University of Adelaide of monitoring drugs in the sewerage system. It’s quite an innovative approach to mining sewerage data. The drugs detected (and passed by people at the toilet) show alarming increases, especially with methamphetamine (ice). There are differences between types of drugs used in the country vs. in metro Adelaide. Samples were taken from 15 sewage treatment plants across South Australia and tested for traces of ecstasy, methamphetamines and cocaine. There is increased use of methamphetamine over the weekend. Methamphetamine was the drug of choice in the city, while country people preferred ecstasy. Cocaine was last on the list everywhere. I’m curious about the stated intention to develop a biomarker to determine how many humans contribute to the flow (of data). At the moment, there are only estimates of the population size served by each sewage plant. I’ll try to flush out more information about how the biomarkers wo...

On Saturday 01 November (9am to 3pm) there will be a free Hazard Waste Drop-off at the Wayville Showground, enter from Rose Terrace. This has been arranged by Unley Council. Residents will receive information in their letterboxes. Here are further details to help you prepare. The service is only for household hazardous waste. Commercial quantities will not be accepted. Keep original labels on all containers or put labels on known chemicals Package all materials securely to avoid spills Place old containers in plastic bags or buckets to avoid leaks Place smaller containers in a box or larger container to help with unloading. Transport chemicals in your vehicle’s boot or trailer for easy and safe handling. For your safety please stay in the car and let staff unload waste. Please note that no containers or boxes will be returned as we do not empty them on-site Goods Accepted Acids and alkalis Brake fluids and coolants Cleaning products Gardening chemicals (i...

I was annoyed, very annoyed to learn that contaminated ground water had been found in Ashford, Keswick and Forestville. The EPA is continuing to sample the water and soil vapours. According to a press report, authorities have known about the contamination for years. If that is the case, then why the delay in alerting residents? The State Government will hold community meetings with residents. It is a sad legacy from heavy industrial pollution from past years.