”The beverage industry is scaring consumers with false figures and wild claims about 10c Container Deposit Systems,” says Ian Cohen, Greens MLC. “Of all the litter on Australia’s streets and in our parks, 10% of it is Coca Cola containers – that’s a big market share! At the merest whiff of a container deposit scheme being introduced Coca Cola again peddle their usual lies, claiming extraordinary costs that they will have to be pass on to consumers.”
“The reality is far more simple – people buy a drink with the 10c deposit included and get their 10c deposit back – if they don’t return it they pay. For those who don’t return the containers, their 10c deposit helps fund scheme administration – the polluter pays. It’s a closed circle, a no brainer. South Australia has been doing it for years and the sky has not fallen in.”
“Is this government going to support big business and ignore the desires of the 90% of people who support recycling schemes?”
“Coca Cola Amatil has donated $2 million dollars and Lion Nathan $650,000 to the major parties over the last 8 years and not without the expectation of a ‘return’. This is an industry that will do anything for profit and to evade their corporate responsibility. The alleged costs of container deposit recycling they claim in today’s media are simply not true.”
“The ACCC have already rapped Coca Cola over the knuckles for misleading and deceptive conduct this year from the Kerry Armstrong ‘Mythbusting’ spruik. This corporate campaign against container deposits is more of the same from a company that puts profits before community values and health.”
“South Australia’s Scouts raise $9 million dollars each year from running container recycling centres. If Coca Cola was truly a good corporate citizen it would support the opportunity to enable Scouts and other community groups to generate funds from recycling
“The Australian Food and Grocery Council’s Kate Carnell has said that a recycling scheme ‘would undermine existing efforts and make products more expensive’ and it would hurt kerbside recyclers. Councils are the kerbside recyclers and in NSW it costs them around $168 million a year. Most councils support container deposit schemes as the costs to them are very high.”
“A 10c container deposit return scheme provides local councils with new income from returning beverage containers remaining in kerbside recycling. It will return savings in landfill fees, lower gate fees at recyclers and increased income from recycled paper sales as paper that has not been contaminated by container leakage attracts a higher return.”
Across just four local government areas that we looked at there are savings to be made of almost $1.1 million if containers were taken out of the waste stream. There are 152 local councils in NSW – think of the enormous savings.
Packaging Industry Lies Fact Sheet
Myth - Coca-Cola Amatil said renewing the highly successful National Packaging Covenant was vital as it allowed Australia to continue to lead the world in developing sustainable management of packaging.
Fact - The National Packaging Convenant hasn’t even moved the national recycling rate of packaging beyond 48% according to an independent review of the Covenant. Considering the Covenant is 17% off the 2010 target of 65%, the suggestion that the Convenant is highly successful is about as truthful as the Coca Cola Kerry Armstrong Myth Busting campaign that the ACCC found misleading and deceptive.
Myth - Continuing the National Packaging Covenant would cost $6 million a year, jointly provided by industry and government, (compared with $500m for CDL). Under the current recycling approach, Australia’s packaging recycling rates have risen from below 40 per cent to almost 60 per cent over the past five years.
Fact - The Covenant only costs $6 million a year because the cost burden is shifted to local councils through kerbside recycling. Local councils across Australia collectively spend $400 million a year on kerbside. The gross cost of CDL will be approximately $440 million but once all the costs savings are deducted, a container deposit scheme will deliver an annual income of $3 million dollars - certainly a better economic and environmental outcome than the Covenant.
Myth: CDL would deliver a crushing blow to the future viability of kerbside recyclers and investment in Australia.
A container deposit scheme would save these councils as much as 20% on their kerbside recycling costs.
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