Pushing for a NSW Container Deposit Scheme

Background

Container deposits are a simple program of placing a deposit on a bottle, can or other container that is refunded when the container is returned, thereby giving consumers incentives to 'do the right thing'.
Creating a national container deposit scheme whereby a 10c deposit is paid on the return of a beverage container has the potential to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 1.3 million tonnes of CO2e per year (equivalent to 197,000 homes switching to 100% renewable energy). 
The scheme would also save enough water to permanently supply over 24,000 Australian homes and reduce the volume of litter in our parks, beaches and roadsides by 12-15%
For too long local ratepayers have borne the disproportionate cost burden of kerbside recycling. A container deposit scheme could potentially save ratepayers over $59.8 million per annum. The inequity and inefficiency of the status quo will continue as long as the packaging industry continue to funnel truckloads of cash into the major party machines. 
After 9 years of self regulation and 9 years of unabated political donations, NSW has been left with a waste management system incapable of maximising resource recovery and securing human and environmental health.
The time has come to stop dragging the chain of industry self regulation which has left NSW with recycling rates around the 40% mark and embrace an alternative that proactively enables the community to reach an 80% recycling rate.
Somehow, through the fog, the South Australian jurisdiction has cut through the ideological backlash to EPR from the packaging industry and maintained a Container Deposit Scheme for the last 33 years.  
Enacted in 1975 under the Beverage Container Act 1975 and later incorporated into the Environment Protection Act 1993 (SA), CDL has been instrumental in the South Australia Government achieving a recycling rate of 70-80% in relation to beverage containers and providing a new income stream for community organisations and the States' most disadvantaged groups.

The Benefits of CDL

Container Deposit Legislation has the potential to:

• Reduce the volume of litter in our parks, beaches and roadsides by 12-15%
• Increase Australia’s recycling by over 630,000 tonnes p.a.
• Achieve a 6% diversion of all  Municipal Solid Waste (”MSW”) waste away from landfill
•  Reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 1.3 million tonnes of CO2e per year (equivalent to 197,000 homes switching to 100% renewable energy)
• Save enough water to permanently supply over 24,000 Australian homes
• Deliver the same level of Australian air quality improvements as taking 140,000 cars off the road
• Provide 250,000+ Australian homes with access to recycling services for the first time
• Save rate payers over $59.8 million per annum
• Significantly reduce the number of turtles, lizards, seals and birds killed by litter across Australia
• Create at least 1,000 new jobs, mostly in rural and regional Australia

See the Boomerang Alliance website, www.boomerangalliance.org and
Common Sense Approach CDL Briefing Paper (BA),Container Deposits: The Common Sense Approach (BA) for more information.

NSW Greens give NSW a chance FOR CDL

In June 2009, Ian Cohen MLC introduced the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (Container Recovery) Bill 2008into the New South Wales Legislative Council.  Ian's Second Reading Speech for the Bill can be accessed here.
The object of this Bill was to ensure that, if the targets for recycling of certain packaging established by the National Packaging Covenant (2005) are not met, a beverage container deposit scheme (“CDS”) that provides for the payment of refunds on certain beverage containers will come into force.
The key aspects of the Bill were;

• A legislative reiteration of targets established under the National Packaging Covenant as a benchmark against which the need for a CDS can be measured.  
• Provision for the labelling of beverage containers subject to a New South Wales CDS and the refunding of a container deposit upon the return of an empty, unbroken beverage container.   
• A broad CDS structure that establishes a Beverage Container Deposit Management Committee, Scheme Administrator and Collection Depots for the purpose of administrating the return of beverage containers and refunding deposits.
• A framework for administration and distribution of unredeemed deposits which specifies the areas to which funds should be applied including financial support for kerbside recycling services, further offsetting the collection industry costs of operating the scheme and product development to improve the recyclability and reusability of beverage containers.

Unfortunately the Bill was voted down.

A Fairer Way to Manage Waste and Maximise Resource Use

My proposed Container Deposit Scheme would in no way detract from kerbside collection and would work hand-in-hand with council kerbside recycling to maximise recycling of packaging consumed both in the home and in public spaces. Dr Stuart White’s “Independent Review of Container Deposit Legislation in New South Wales” (Nov 2001) stated that;
“Local Government would realise financial benefits from the introduction of CDL through reduced costs of kerbside collection and through the value of unredeemed deposits in the material collected at kerbside”
The report further concluded that;
“[w]hile the system (CDS) would cost between $30 and $50 million a year to put in place, the net benefit would be in the order of $70 to $100 million annually.” 
A Container Deposit Scheme re-configures the current cost burden of local council kerbside collection operations, which is inconsistent with the core principles at the heart of the Covenant – ‘Shared Responsibility’ and ‘Product Stewardship’. The current cost burden is placed disproportionately on tax payers through local council rates.
The national cost of kerbside recycling is approximately $294 million per annum with the gross portion of that sum subsidised by ratepayers. The packaging industry’s contribution is $3 million a year to national kerbside recycling and public place recycling.
This does not accord with the principles enunciated by the Covenant. ‘Shared Responsibility’ under the covenant appears to be a 99% duty of the public, 1% duty of the packaging industry.  The implementation of CDL will balance this disproportionate burden and save the average family $30 a year.
Container deposits complement kerbside recycling perfectly by focusing on containers consumed away-from-home, which kerbside systems are very poor at recovering. Up to 50% of major food items are now consumed away from home, and therefore away from recycling facilities.
All of the world’s best recyclers, including northern European countries and South Australia, have one thing in common – container deposits.
A national container deposit scheme would dramatically improve recycling rates, reduce the cost burden on taxpayers to run kerbside recycling, and take a big step towards reducing waste to landfill.
Survey figures released earlier this year by Clean Up Australia show that 83% of people in NSW believe a ten cent deposit and refund scheme would encourage more people to recycle bottles and cans, and that 89% think drink manufacturers should be involved in setting up such a deposit and refund scheme. This would be a popular step for the government to take!
To help NSW implement a Container Deposit Scheme please download a petition.