According to Don Matthews, leader of the Australian Poly Tank Concerned Individuals Group (APTCIG), UV-degraded plastic cannot be recycled and the polytank industry is misleading the Australian public on recycling.
In a survey of the industry conducted over the past 6 months he was reassured repeatedly by manufacturers and suppliers that UV-degraded tanks could be recycled at the end of their life. On further questioning and requests for evidence the industry went quiet. APTCIG now wants to put questions to company directors but their association CEO Leisa Donlan seems not to want to go along with this idea.
Over the past months ARMA has put up the following obstructions to APTCIG investigations:
On 11 Aug 2008 I emailed:
Dear Leisa,
In my email of 24 July I asked if you had names and email contacts for key people in member companies of ARMA.Haven't received anything yet. The reason I am asking is that I emailed the following companies from addresses given on their website for assistance in my research into recycling spent poly tanks. No-one bothered to reply or acknowledge receipt of my email. They were definitely received because none were returned. There is no excuse for this and only helps to reinforce my view that nothing is being done. You will appreciate why I am so sceptical.
sales@nationalpolyindustries.com.au 9 July
paulh@duraplas.com.au 15 July
infoworld@polyworld.com.au 17 July
sales@teampoly.com.au 17 July
Brisbane@ozpoly.com.au 17 July
feedback@waterforce.com.au 23 July
Could you please forward names and contact emails for all managing directors of ARMA associated companies. Maybe then I will be able to get a response to my questions.
Thanks,
Don Matthews
No response
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On 11 Aug 2008 I emailed:
Dear Leisa,
I am interested in finding out more about the work you are doing with Auckland University on finding new ways to make it easier for tank owners to recycle their own tanks at the end of their product life
Thanks
Don
Dear Don
Details of the research currently being undertaken are restricted to ARMA members, as the research is still in progress and funded by the members.
Regards
Leisa Donlan
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On 27 Aug 2008 I emailed:
Leisa,
Do you have an email address for egr water ? Can't find it on their website.
Don
No response
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On Dec 17 2008 I emailed:To: Leisa Donlan CEO Association of Rotational Moulders Australasia
From: Don Matthews APTCIG
Leisa,
Please email names and email addresses for Managing Directors of the following manufacturers.I wish to ask some serious questions on recycling.
National Poly Industries
Ozpoly
EGR Water
If you choose not to release this information without a valid reason I will interpret your actions as a deliberate attempt to block my investigations into industry recycling claims and will make every effort to make my view widely known.
Don Matthews
APTCIG Australian Poly Tank Concerned Individuals Group
seeking open and honest answers to open and honest questions
No response. As advised I am now making my views widely known.
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1 comment:
Dear Don,
My company has recently been the recipient of one of your seemingly harmless emails regarding the recycling of spent plastic from poly water tanks when they reach the end of their lifespan. At the time of receiving your email, we elected not to respond to your questions, as we were already privy to your agenda. However, as you feel the need to pursue the matter with further with uninvited emails, consider this your response!
In fact upon further investigation, it would appear that your email, akin to scores of similar emails sent out to other Australian water tank manufacturers, is initially, a deceptive attempt by yourself to discredit and smear the Australian Rotational Moulding industry and in particular the Poly water tank industry as a whole via your web BLOG.
Reading ahead through your web BLOG, one has to wonder whether you hold any credibility whatsoever as the depths of your deception become rapidly apparent moving from page to page on your BLOG. Apparently you seem to be confused as to whether you’re writing as a mere “gardener” or “a concerned member of the public”, even as “Don Matthews” with a chemistry degree in hand who has taught “chemistry of plastics” and to DME(Don Matthews Enterprises) which has more acronyms associated with it than someone holding 10 degrees, Don make up your mind. How do you expect people to respond to your emails? Simply put Don, any legitimate lay person (as you claim to be) when asking questions would not need to be provided an in depth analyses of the molecular structure of spent polyethylene for an answer, nor would many people expect to receive such a technical response.
Whilst I myself am certainly not a scientist, I’m sure that even you can appreciate that advances in technology, including plastic recycling and polymer processing, take place continually throughout the world all the time. Whilst plastic manufacturers like our self are provided with technical information from the different resin manufacturers regarding their products, a 100% material recycling policy is endorsed by all of these suppliers. At this point, you do need to remember that at the end of the day these suppliers are businesses, who like many other businesses want to protect their intellectual property rights. We, as the resin manufacturer’s customer, do not ask them to supply every specific detail involving the material processing and recycling elements to their business, nor would I think should we have unlimited access to all their information. Consider the lengths Coke, McDonalds, Pepsi and KFC go to in trying to protect their IP rights from their competitors and even the general public for that matter. It should therefore come as no surprise to you then, when asking for total disclosure from companies you have emailed, that you receive limited, evasive and at times no response when employing such covert and deceptive tactics to feed your BLOG. Typically Don, people just don’t want to waste their time with someone who will never be satisfied with the answers that are provided.
I personally find it particularly interesting that of all the plastic products in use throughout Australia and world, that you have singled out polyethylene water tanks as a potential environmental problem. Why not car components, like 4WD snorkels? Why not agricultural manufacturers who utilise rotomoulded plastic components in sprayers, booms and other parts? Why not plastic lawn mower components? How about the plastic pits used by Telstra? Maybe plastic kayaks and boats? How about the ADF (military) who uses plastic containers for ordinance, weapon storage and who even uses plastic components in our assault rifles? Ok, what about the good old plastic bag?
No, unfortunately none of the above items appear, nor does any other plastic product which is mass produced by the thousands mention in your BLOG, strange that! Well ok, not really all that strange when you consider that Poly tanks are a major competitor to the backyard liner tank which you are producing yourself Don (BLT), now who exactly did you mention in your BLOG was interested in making the dollar? Oddly enough I wouldn’t mind betting that the Stainless Steel tank manufacturer that is quoted so frequently and mentioned just as many times by you throughout the BLOG, is connected with you in some way, shape or form, I mean it is hard to compete with stainless against polyethylene price wise isn’t it?
Congratulations, you’ve come up with a great way to try and smear a good industry with scare tactics and dishonesty all done in favour of your own cleverly disguised self propagation and greed.
Keep up the deception Don and by the way….. What material is your liner tank exactly made from again?… I seem to have missed that part, I hope it’s recyclable!
In short, your BLOG isn’t about the environment; it’s about your SALES!
Signed
Easily Frustrated by Idiots
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