Foreign Correspondent

S2018 E10 To Burn or Not To Burn

本集简介

There's a new push in Australia to build incinerators to burn our waste. Is this the way to go? Those clever Swedes think so. Foreign Correspondent sends War on Waste's Craig Reucassel to Sweden to investigate.

As Australia grapples with growing piles of waste, the idea of burning it is getting some heavyweight backers, the federal energy minister among them.

So will incineration work? Can it be clean? Is it cost-effective?

And if we invest in this technology at a time when China has stopped taking a lot of our recyclables, will this mean our recyclables end up being burnt?

Sweden is held up as a leader in managing waste. And as one of the world's biggest innovators, it's also one of the biggest incinerators.

So War on Waste's Craig Reucassel goes to Sweden to see if it holds the solution to Australia's waste crisis.

The Swedes only landfill one per cent of their waste and their government goes so far as to claim a phenomenal 99 per cent recycling rate. In many places, their food waste is collected and made into bio-fuel for their Volvos.

In the capital Stockholm, each time their kerbside wheelie bins are emptied, a sensor beeps and the household gets billed. So if they put their bins out less, they pay less. "We save money just by sorting our garbage," says resident Sara Jarnhed.

But the centrepiece of Sweden's waste management strategy is its chain of 34 vast waste furnaces that turn waste into energy for power and heating.

Sweden even makes about $100 million a year from importing waste, burning thousands of tonnes from Britain and other countries who don't know what else to do with it – and pay Sweden to get rid of it.

Problem solved? Not so fast. As Australia considers whether to go down the incineration road, Craig Reucassel follows the waste trail in Sweden to discover that we do have plenty to learn from Sweden's experience - but not all of it is good.

Presenter - Craig Reucassel
Producer - Deborah Richards
Camera - Mathew Marsic
Editor - Nikki Stevens
Executive Producer - Marianne Leitch

上一集

2018/08/07 S2018 E9

Tipping Point

China sent Australia's recycling industry into a spin when it banned most waste imports. Now it's tackling a home-grown rubbish crisis. Bill Birtles looks at China's own war on waste and asks: is it winning?

下一集

2018/08/21 S2018 E11

The Village

Veteran ABC correspondent Sean Dorney, who is suffering motor neurone disease, makes an emotional return to PNG tonight in Foreign Correspondent.

Sean Dorney got thrown out of PNG for his reporting, yet he received one of its top honours. He skippered its footy team and fell for a local girl. Now suffering motor neurone disease, he makes an emotional final visit.

For most Australians, Manus Island evokes a grim, now-shuttered detention centre, nothing more. But for veteran ABC correspondent Sean Dorney, it's paradise.

It's where he married a chief's daughter, Pauline, after draining his bank account to pay bride price, and where the embrace of a vast extended family awaits…

People have said to me that Pauline is like a princess in Manus, whereas you're just a commoner -– Dorney

…And it's where Sean and his beloved Pauline are now returning, in what will probably be his last time in PNG, the country that's defined his life.

The thing is I've now got motor neurone disease. I may have just two years left - Dorney

As his boat touches shore, a burly tribesman lifts the frail Dorney and carries him to the sand. Tears flow in a tempest of drums and song.

Even the smallest children are constantly dancing. I'm no longer up to the more vigorous moves – but even with a walking stick one can but try – Dorney at welcome ceremony

Sean Dorney first reported on PNG before it won independence from Australia. He ended up a household name, thanks to his reporting of political crises, disasters and daily life struggles.

Thanks too to his place in the national rugby league side. His team mates called him "Grasscutter" for his tackling style. It's a sport that unites a country where 860 languages are spoken… though Pauline needed lots of persuasion.

I was thinking, do they call this sport? This is not sport. This is a bunch of dogs fighting over chicken bones – Pauline Nare, Sean's wife

On this farewell journey to PNG, Dorney makes a special report for Foreign Correspondent. He finds nuggets of progress, like more girls getting educated. He unleashes his frustrations in trying to inform Australians about their nearest neighbour, about whom they seem to care little.

Frankly I'm appalled at the lack of coverage in Australia – Dorney

It's his journey as a sick man to his and Pauline's Manus clan that showcases PNG's great treasure… the pulsating villages where 80 per cent of its people live. They're poor but they enjoy what Sean calls "subsistence affluence".

In Tulu, Sean is initiated as a clan chief, a first for an outsider. Then, before Sean is carried back into the boat, comes Tulu's healing ceremony, unforgettable in its passion and unimaginably removed from the high-tech Australian medicine to which he will return.

Few correspondents have etched themselves more deeply into the life of a country they've covered than Sean Dorney.

当前季

S2018

2018-01-08

哇，窗口太小啦

Foreign Correspondent