From tomorrow, Thursday 1 November, Queensland will become the latest state to have a container deposit scheme (CDS) in place, offering a 10 cent refund to those who collect and return their eligible containers.
The scheme, known as Containers for Change, will start with around 230 container refund points in operation across the state, with the Government promising that the number of sites will continue to grow as the scheme rolls out.
Speaking about the scheme, the Queensland Government said: “The Scheme is a product stewardship arrangement with the costs of operating the scheme and recovering the containers for recycling, paid for by drink manufacturers. This means that drink manufacturers will take responsibility for ensuring that the environmental impacts from the empty drink containers are reduced.
“The Queensland Government has appointed the industry-based, not-for-profit group Container Exchange (CoEx) as the Product Responsibility Organisation (PRO), to develop and run the container refund scheme in Queensland.
“The PRO is responsible for ensuring that an effective and efficient scheme operates in Queensland, and that there is convenient and state-wide access to container refund points.
“CoEx has been appointed as the Product Responsibility Organisation (PRO) because it has the structure and experience required to undertake this product stewardship scheme.”
As with other CDS consumers will receive the refund on most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid paperboard beverage containers between 150ml and three-litres. After a period of transition, all eligible drink containers will have to display a refund marking that will make it easy to see which containers can be returned for a refund.
A number of drink containers are not eligible for a refund under the scheme. These include:
- plain milk containers
- glass containers which have contained wine or pure spirits
- large containers (1L or more) which have contained flavoured milk, pure juice, cask wine or cask water
- cordial or vegetable juice containers
- sachets above 250ml which have contained wine
- registered health tonics.
All containers that are smaller than 150mL and bigger than 3L will not be eligible for a refund.
A similar scheme has been in place in New South Wales was implemented 12 months ago and so the introduction of the Queensland CDS should be a welcome relief for border retailers who would have lost out to some NSW consumers electing to buy their products across the border where no CDS levy was in place.
In June the NSW Government said that border businesses that had lost out as a result of the CDS would be entitled to compensation and last month TheShout reported that the vast majority of craft beer drinkers in NSW said they preferred to continue with kerbside recycling, ignoring the state’s CDS.