The NSW Government will introduce a refund container deposit scheme that will drive down litter across Hawkesbury.
Member for Hawkesbury Dominic Perrottet MP said residents would be able to return their drink containers for a 10 cent refund, as part of the government container deposit scheme to tackle litter.
The scheme will commence from July 2017 and apply to eligible drink containers between 150ml and three litres, which will display NSW CDS labelling.
“Litter is a growing, costly and ugly burden on our community and we have a responsibility to do something about it,” Mr Perrottet said.
“This scheme is the single largest initiative ever undertaken to reduce litter in NSW.
“Giving people a financial incentive to do the right thing and recycle drink containers will help to tackle the estimated 160 million drink containers littered across NSW every year and improve our neighbourhoods for everyone to enjoy.”
Mr Perrottet said a container deposit scheme targeting drink containers will deliver on a key election commitment and make a major contribution to achieving one of the Premier’s 12 priorities – to reduce the volume of litter by 40 per cent by 2020.
“We’re moving ahead with this container deposit scheme to make it easier for our community to recycle so that we can get bottles and cans out of our roads, parks, and waterways and preserve our local environment,” Mr Perrottet said.
Environment Minister Mark Speakman said successive governments put container deposit scheme in the too hard basket for decade after decade.
“Drink containers make up the largest proportion of litter volume in NSW, at 44 per cent, so it makes sense to act,” Mr Speakman said.
Some of the scheme’s features include:
- A 10 cent refund for anybody who returns an eligible container
- Collection depots will range from large-scale depots through to stand-alone reverse-vending-machines and pop-up sites
- Funding of the 10 cent refund as well as the associated handling and administration fees will be provided by beverage suppliers.
The government will appoint an implementation working group and bring forward the draft legislation to establish the scheme.