By Tyler Wright
After decades of advocacy by community groups, Victorians will be able to recycle their beverage containers – for a 10 cent refund – from November 2023.
The state government announced on Friday 14 April that the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic) will begin on 1 November, with people able to donate bottles of non-concentrated fruit or vegetable juice, flavoured milk, beer, soft drink and mixed spirits at nearby collection points in exchange for a cash boost.
Australians for Refunds on Cans and Bottles (AFROCAB) group convenor, Clematis resident Peter Cook said he has been calling for a container deposit scheme since 2002, with every state and territory except Victoria and Tasmania currently operating a similar scheme.
“I was driving home one night from a day ski patrolling at Mount St Gwinear, and I was driving between Erica and Moe, and I was noticing the cans and bottles along the roadside, and it occurred to me then, that ‘why couldn’t Victoria do the same as South Australia, and have a refund on cans and bottles so that people wouldn’t litter them?,'” Mr Cook said.
Between then and now, Mr Cook said there has been “dozens” of letters in newspapers, letters to politicians, meetings with politicians and at least half a dozen rallies on the steps of parliament.
In 2008, a list of over 200 community groups in support of new legislation introducing a refund on donated cans and bottles addressed to then Victorian premier John Brumby, was published in The Age and the Herald Sun for Clean Up Australia Day.
“Most recently, we had a raft made of cans and bottles collected locally, and we had that on Cardinia Reservoir to make the point to the government that these cans and bottles go somewhere, and that somewhere is clogging up and polluting our rivers, our creeks, our bays and our oceans,” Mr Cook said.
“In Australia, there’s at least a billion drink containers a year go into the environment or into landfill; so it’s a big problem, and that’s what we’ve been trying to solve since we started this way back in 2002.
“It’s been a very consistent thing throughout our campaign that people you talk to say they support it, they see it as a common sense thing to do, and they don’t understand why government’s been so slow in responding.”
CDS Vic is set to be coordinated by VicReturn, with Visy, TOMRA Cleanaway and Return-It tasked with being network operators.
Network operators will be required to have a minimum of one collection point per 14,500 people in metropolitan areas, at least one per town of 750 people in regional areas, and at least one per town of 350 people in remote areas within 12 months of the scheme’s commencement.
The network operators are set to establish and maintain a network of more than 600 refund collection points across the state, which may be run by small businesses, community organisations, charities, sports clubs and councils.
“Community groups make quite a bit of money each year from unredeemed deposits…thousands of dollars per group,” Mr Cook said.
“People notice that instead of cans and bottles being an expense to the community, where money has to be spent cleaning them up, there will instead be a financial benefit to community groups.”
Minister for Environment, Ingrid Stitt, said the container deposit scheme will “maximise the number of cans, bottles and cartons being recycled into new products,“ put “extra cash in Victorian pockets” “reduce the amount of litter in our environment by half”.
“CDS Vic will be Australia’s most accessible and convenient container deposit scheme, with more than 600 refund collection points across the state,” Ms Stitt said.
Fore more information, visit vic.gov.au/container-deposit-scheme.
