City of Sydney welcomes container deposit scheme

The City of Sydney has welcomed the NSW Government’s decision to introduce a state-wide container deposit scheme (CDS) to encourage recycling and reduce plastic pollution resulting from beverage containers, which currently account for 44% of all litter in public places.

The CDS will follow the City’s own program of reverse vending machines, which recycled more than two tonnes of aluminium cans and plastic drink bottles during a two-year trial. The four machines at Haymarket, Circular Quay, Redfern and Wynyard have collected more than 150,000 empty drink containers since 2014, offering small rewards such as donations to charity and food truck vouchers.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the reverse vending machines have proved the community wants to do the right thing by recycling and disposing of drink containers responsibly. She claimed, “When a state-wide program is introduced, there will be a mass reduction in drinks containers being littered or going to landfill, and instead being recycled into a valuable resource.

“Container deposit schemes have been embraced by the public and have produced impressive recycling rates across Australia and globally,” said Moore. “We applaud the NSW Government for getting on board with a scheme we have been calling on for some time to encourage people to recycle with the offer of 10 cents for every beverage container returned.”

Narelle Andersen, founder of Envirobank Recycling, said her company’s reverse vending machines have revolutionised recycling, claiming that “when a 10-cent return fee is introduced for beverage containers, the litter literally disappears overnight”.

“Container deposit schemes also provide huge social benefits,” she added. “This is demonstrated by not-for-profits and community groups who are then incentivised to collect plastic pollution and turn it into dollars for fundraising, producing services for the most marginalised in the community.”

The City will leave two reverse vending machines at Redfern and Circular Quay until the NSW Government’s scheme begins mid-2017.

Image caption: Clean Up Australia’s Ian Kiernan using a City of Sydney reverse vending machine.