Page 1608 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 8 May 2018
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waste to landfill, with increased source separation of eligible containers taking place at collection points.
Express collection points will be located in accessible areas such as shopping centres. Bulk collection points will also operate in catchment industrial areas, providing consumers with the choice as to how they collect and deposit their containers. Containers which are put in yellow wheelie bins will be identified at the recycling facility and returned to collection points to earn the 10c refund.
The process will have not only environmental benefits but also social benefits. We will adopt an over-the-counter, face-to-face model for collection points, creating new opportunities for social enterprises and small businesses to get involved. People will also be given the option to donate their refund to charity, creating a valuable new income stream for those charities.
A wide range of containers will be eligible for deposit under the scheme. Most containers that are between 150 millilitres and three litres and are made of plastic, glass, aluminium or liquid paperboard will be able to be returned to collection points.
I am proud to be part of a government that is taking such practical steps to make Canberra a more sustainable city. I am looking forward to the container deposit scheme rolling out just next month, and you can be sure I will be encouraging my constituents to get on board.
The bill before us today will facilitate the smooth introduction of this scheme into Canberra. In particular, it delays provisions in the CDS legislation relating to refund markings on containers to give suppliers time to comply with new labelling requirements. Eligible containers will need to bear a refund marking which indicates that the container can be returned to a collection point. It will be an offence for a supplier to fail to put a refund marking on an eligible container.
At the moment suppliers have to label their containers to comply with the requirements of the schemes operating in South Australia and the Northern Territory. With New South Wales now on board with the CDS program and the ACT and Queensland schemes coming online this year, we are harmonising the labelling requirements. By 2020 a common refund marking will be adopted which says that the 10c refund is available at collection points in participating states and territories, without being specific.
A two-year transition period to the common refund marking will allow the necessary time for beverage suppliers to change container labels and use up existing stock. It also gives all participating states and territories a chance to align schemes to create greater consistency across the country.
In the meantime, the Canberra community will still be able to return all eligible containers to collection points. The container deposit scheme will give us an extra incentive to hold on to our containers while we are out and to pick up others that we might see lying around. The scheme will reduce the amount of litter on our streets and
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