Clean Up report proves Container Deposit Scheme needed - 2 February 2010

The report from Clean Up Australia Day 2009 shows that six of the top ten items in the recovered rubbish were related to beverage containers, including bottle caps and glass pieces. Aluminium alcohol beverage cans rose from seventh to the third in the top ten list in this year’s report. These items made up 29.7% of the top ten items found in last year’s clean up.

“It’s disappointing that, after cigarette butts, glass alcohol bottles were the most common type of rubbish found, according to Clean Up Australia’s count. Container Deposit Legislation (CDL) would have saved these containers for recycling.” says Greens MLC, Ian Cohen.

“My Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (Container Recovery) Bill was rejected by the NSW parliament last year, despite a clear community desire for a container deposit recycling scheme. A recent poll commissioned by Clean Up Australia found that 87% of Australians want a national container deposit refund scheme.

“NSW returned the highest number of surveys to Clean Up Australia Day, a reflection of how passionate people in this state are about a clean environment. I fear that the people of NSW will continue to see our parks and waterways littered with beverage containers, as long as the beverage and packaging industries continue to funnel huge donations to the major parties.

“Packaging industry self regulation has left NSW with recycling rates at around 40%. A CDL could enable the community to reach the 80% recycling rate they have in South Australia. Under the status quo, the results of the Clean Up Australia report are unlikely to see much change from year to year.

“If we had a container deposit scheme like South Australia has had for 34 years, we could expect local ratepayers to save close to $60 million per year in waste collection expenses. We could reduce the volume of litter in our parks, beaches and roadsides by 12-15%, increase Australia’s recycling by over 630,000 tonnes a year, divert 6% of all Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) waste away from landfill and reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 140,000 cars off the road.

“The Clean Up Australia report shows the state government continues to be an environmental vandal when it comes to recycling,” says Ian Cohen.


http://iancohennsw.blogspot.com/2011/01/pushing-for-nsw-container-deposit.html