Page 4720 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 31 October 2017
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meaning that today beverage containers make up only a small amount of South Australia’s litter.
Although we are a bit behind South Australia in the timing stakes, we are joining a growing movement nationwide. The Northern Territory also has a container deposit scheme. As we heard, New South Wales will introduce their scheme on 1 December 2017, and Western Australia will implement a CDS in January 2019. As a leader in waste management and with the help of our environmentally conscientious residents, I have no doubt the ACT scheme will be successful in reducing waste levels in our city.
In the 2016 election Labor promised to implement a container deposit scheme, and today we deliver. This bill establishes an effective container deposit scheme that will successfully reduce litter and increase recycling. It will encourage everyone, from the government to beverage supplies to consumers, to play their part in keeping the ACT beautiful and clean. I commend this bill to the Assembly.
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (4.52): As already outlined, this bill sets up a container deposit scheme for the ACT along the lines of the New South Wales container deposit scheme. Refund schemes for containers or, more generally, recycling programs for products are not a unique concept, with a number of similar programs—also referred to as product stewardship schemes—operating, for example, for the agricultural chemicals industry, mobile phones, batteries and other commodities. In pre-empting the introduction of the scheme, the Transport Canberra and City Services 2016-17 annual report described it as:
A product stewardship scheme that obliges beverage suppliers to take greater responsibility for packaging after it has been sold. It is an effective and popular means of reducing litter and encouraging community participation in recycling.
Whether it will be popular in the ACT is yet unknown. In the ACT we already have, by general and anecdotal reflection, a fairly good track record of recycling. Canberrans pride themselves on having a strong environmental conscience and acting on these values. We have well-promoted and effective recycling programs, and I am sure that many Canberrans will agree. In 2016-17, 6.8 million household rubbish collections and 3.4 million recycling collections were undertaken. Our yellow bin arrangement works effectively, and the green bin pilot program for selected suburbs attracted 7,400 registrations.
This bill’s stated objectives are to establish a cost-effective container deposit scheme and promote the recovery, reuse and recycling of empty beverage containers. In terms of recovery, reuse and recycling, we acknowledge that the goal of this bill is to motivate individual consumers and community groups to seek out containers entering our waterways, nature reserves and streets and recover them, thereby promoting and motivating Canberrans to recycle. But will it really? For example, currently you buy a drink from a vending machine in your workplace, you drink it and then I would hope you put it into the recycling bin. Under the scheme you buy a drink from the vending machine, but it will cost you about 20c more and after you finish it you will—I hope—put it into the recycling bin. The notion that many Canberrans will be
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