Revised press release.
Please note that an error was made in the previous release about the inclusion in the NPCC’s figures of South Australian beverage container recovery statistics.
Industry trashed on packaging waste: Greens’ container deposit law now
Greens MLC Ian Cohen will introduce and debate Container Deposit Legislation this week in the NSW Upper House, as new information reveals the failure of a voluntary national recycling scheme.
“Self regulation has failed and the credibility of the packaging industry has now been pulped – it should not be recycled yet again as it’s clearly contaminated,” said Upper House Greens MP Ian Cohen.
“This is an issue that has been debated for years. The community is ready for container deposit legislation and that is why I will be introducing and debating my Private Member’s Bill this week.
“The Chairman of the National Packaging Covenant Council (NPCC) - Russell Peel - was on ABC’s AM this morning selling the current voluntary scheme as a success. How can a scheme that results in glass being dumped in landfill because it’s cheaper than recycling, be a success?”
“Government and NPCC recycling figures have been suggesting that recycling rates are at 56%, when the truth appears to be that they’re closer to 43%. A private consultancy firm’s audit has exposed the quality of packaging statistics as being about as reliable as Chinese ministry statements on Tibet.
“The community is passionate about recycling. It’s not OK to peddle dodgy figures on the recovery of packaging waste, inflated by glass recycled in New Zealand or by including non-packaging waste in the official figures.
“We also need to remember that the NPCC’s now discredited figures enjoy an additional boost by the inclusion of imported packaging such as wine bottles ‘being counted as recycled Australian packaging’, as was reported in today’s Sydney Morning Herald.
“My legislation is known as the ‘Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (Container Recovery) Bill 2008’, and I will be asking the Parliament to respect the wishes of the community on this issue and vote in favour of the Bill’” said Mr Cohen.
Further Information: Ian Cohen: 0409 989 466 or Nic Clyde: 0417 742 754
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