Page 1481 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 7 May 2008
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The 2001 independent review of container deposit legislation in New South Wales conducted by Dr Stuart White suggested that New South Wales could recover 80 to 90 per cent under a container deposit scheme. I imagine the ACT could reach similar rates if it enacted this bill or one like it. I appreciate that the ACT has put a lot of effort into a number of schemes to increase recycling rates, but they are no longer resulting in significant increases in capture rates of recyclable materials. In the last State of the Environment Report that we have available to us, produced in 2003, the comment is made that, although the net change is a decrease in total household waste over the last decade, it is clear that the no waste strategy has had little impact on the amount of waste thrown into the rubbish bin. So we do have a problem. This bill is an attempt to solve it.
The object of this bill is to introduce a container deposit scheme in the ACT if the targets of the latest national packaging covenant are not met after the mid-term review of the covenant later this year. The proposed beverage container scheme will provide for the payment of a 10c refund on containers declared to be subject to the scheme, noting that South Australia recently increased its refund from 5c to 10c because the 5c just was not enough to make people pick up and return bottles et cetera, but 10c is. The introduction of a beverage container deposit scheme as outlined in this bill is conditional upon the failure of the current national packaging covenant to achieve its modest recycling targets. By all accounts we should be getting ready now for that to be the case.
I would just like to walk members through the bill. Proposed division 2A.2 of the bill prescribes the key triggers or conditions precedent that would require the minister to declare the operation of a container deposit scheme in relation to a specific material. There is a short-term trigger that requires the minister to assess the results of the 2008 review when it is handed down and to act to implement a container deposit scheme if preliminary targets are not being met.
If targets for recycling rates of specific materials—paper and cardboard 70 to 80 per cent, glass 50 to 60 per cent, steel 60 to 65 per cent, aluminium 80 to 85 per cent, plastics 40 to 45 per cent—do not look like being achieved by 31 July 2010, the minister must make a declaration that a container deposit scheme comes into effect in relation to that material. July 2010 is the current scheduled expiry date of the national packaging covenant, which makes my bill extremely timely.
Proposed division 2A.3 of the bill establishes a product labelling scheme to inform consumers that a 10c refund is payable upon return of a container to an authorised ACT collection depot. Approval and establishment of collection depots will be at the discretion of the relevant minister under proposed section 20H. Flexibility in establishing collection depots ensures that entities, whether commercial or community, that do not have the capacity for efficient scheme participation in collection and refund efforts are not forced into collection efforts.
The bill encourages a variety of collection depots and points, ranging from community-based facilities to drive-through recycling centres, without dictating compulsory retailer collection. The mechanics of the scheme envisage a process
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