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Running Head: Systems Analysis
Systems Analysis 2
Major Project Part 1-Systems Analysis
“Despite many years of education about waste, WA's per capita waste production is still extremely high”
PART-1
Sustainability Problem: Despite many years of education about waste, WA's per capita waste production is still extremely high
Scale: Local Government and Regional Councils
Factors contributing waste management
In 2016-17, the waste production in WA was estimated to be 6.2 million tonnes. Mere 42% of the waste is diverted from landfills which are the cheaper way of waste disposal (Office of Auditor General Western Australia, 2017). The local markets have shortage of recycled waste and the transport takes longer distances of travel. The increase in waste generation is mainly due to increase in population. It requires coordinated efforts of community, industry and government, for reducing and recycling the waste. Despite legislative policies and lot of awareness about waste management, WA has lack of coordination between the Department of Environment Regulations (DER) and waste authority. It influences the implementation and planning of strategies. There is no implementation plan to direct the prioritisation and timing of projects as specified in business plans. Both the agencies have no clearly defined roles which lead to poor reporting, poor planning and funding delays. This lack of cooperation between two agencies causes delay in approval of projects. DER has been irregular in conducting inspections of high risk sites or licensed premises. There has been irregularity in reporting the business plans and financial expenses to WA Boards.
The projects implementation requires simple incentives and messages to engage the community for minimisation and avoidance of waste. Very little focus is made on waste avoidance though progress has been made in managing the waste that is already produced. The government has no policies to reduce the waste production.
Waste strategy does not include any specific solutions for managing the disposal of problem waste like electronic waste, household waste or plastic. It requires long term planning to divert the waste from landfills to make maximum and optimal use of resources. Waste strategy requires diversion of waste from landfills to increase in resource recovery. However during many years the targets for diversion of waste in industrial and demolition waste did not meet the recommended levels.
For improving the awareness, acceptance and engagement of community, the system requires regular messaging to public areas, workplaces and homes. There has been a variation in the methods of waste management and absence of any data verification. The data utilized in waste generation and disposal is unreliable and incomplete because of voluntary participation in collection of data. It is not collected routinely.
Fig showing waste generation and recycling and landfill in WA in 2016/17 (Source: Ritchie, 2019)
Waste Authority and DER advice the Environment Ministry for proposed projects and annual business plans. Irregular focus of these agencies may give inconsistent advice to the ministry leading to rejection in funding and further delay in projects.
The long term planning requires expertise and consistent efforts which may be lacking due to risk of conflicting interests of LGs. Their interests may not align with the state level strategies and plans. The stakeholders engaged in waste management plans may also have varying interests and attitudes. Landfills are poorly managed and no effective management of waste and no rehabilitation is evident.
There are several gaps in DER’s regulatory programs. DER does not report about the complaints of unlicensed operators because of insufficient complaint registers. Hence the inspection of unlicensed operators is often left behind. No agencies advices and monitors the good practices in management of waste. There are no incentives given to the community for reducing or avoiding waste.
The problem of waste production stems from human behaviours and the solution also lies in changing the behaviour. Negative behaviour may drive the issues like littering. Lack of awareness and education about proper techniques of waste management also contributes to waste mismanagement. The people have a lack of responsibility towards effective waste disposal practices and the environment. Increased community participation and incentives (socio psychological and economic) may help develop behavioural changes in people. When people understand the association between the environment harm and their own behaviours, they get engaged in pro environment behaviours. Media and TV campaigns may help increase awareness about reducing waste and how the people can contribute to it. Public awareness may be improved through integrating environment education in curriculum, newsletters, workshops, seminars etc.
Three Major System Factors
Fig showing linkage between Waste Authority and DER (Source: Office of Auditor General Western Australia, 2017)
1. Lack of coordination between the Department of Environment Regulations (DER) and waste authority
It affected the implementation and planning of strategies and the resultant outcomes. The stakeholders of DER and the staff remains confused about which agency they should listen and follow for strategic planning and waste strategy. There has been no evidence of high level of coordination and support between the two authorities in any of the audits (Sakai, Yano & Hirai, 2017). All this leads to project delays in funding and approvals. There has been no consistency in reporting about the progress of the projects at regular interval.
2. No policies or Incentives for reducing the waste production and waste avoidance
Pay as you go and landfill levy programs are being started which...