10 cents for a better future? Environment Minister Powell says "NO"

The Waste Club has no problem with talk about recycling and container deposits. 
They know it won't happen. 
They cosy up to groups such as Keep Australia Beautiful to pay for stunts and bins but they don't want children getting busy to collect all those containers being sent to landfill.
A poor substitute for a container deposit scheme is to encourage schools and community groups with space to be collection depots for products which can be recycled efficiently. A fair price must be paid for aluminium cans, cardboard, paper, plastic, packaging, glass, cigarette buts they have the initiative to collect, sort and package for collection.

Collection trucks could visit the schools and community agencies and reward collection of uncontaminated waste generously. A problem with the Keep Australia Beautiful program is the funding comes from Coca Cola. They are happy for signage, bins, stunts but container deposits are not on their agenda. I've agreed to disagree in the past with the Lord Mayor, Premier and Environment Minister. They don't get it. There has to be incentive and a spirit of enterprise. Keep Australia Beautiful is a great organisation but seems too distracted from their original mission, to keep Australia Beautiful. 
There is no reward for the effort to prepare an uncontaminated industrial bin full of paper and cardboard in a school. I would include fast food packaging in the deposit scheme, wrappers, straws, cups. I would reward kids for a container of cigarette buts the equivalent of 20 cents per filthy stinking butt left around in public areas. Kerbside recycling does not have to suffer, it just won't be as well streamed when taken in for sorting. I continue to disagree strongly with Andrew Powell.

end - comment by Phil Young

Is 10 cents too much for a better future?

By Charlie McKillop  ABC  http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2012/s3643980.htm

Imagine a proposal that has the potential to reduce landfill, boost recycling, create employment and clean up the rubbish that is strewn across roadsides and waterways across the state.

What would you say to a proposal like that?

Well, if you're the Queensland Environment Minister, Andrew Powell, you say 'no'. 

But he says there are some sound reasons why he's ruling it out.

Mt Powell is focussing instead on a $550,000 partnership with Keep Australia Beautiful, funded entirely by the packaging industry.  (ie read - coca cola)

"The Queensland taxpayer's not paying for that, the Australian Packaging Covernance is. That money's going to school programs, litter and waste education officers to help the next generation understand their needs in terms of waste reduction and recycling."

But Councillor Alan Wilson from Cooktown has been investigating and promoting the economic and environmental benefits of a container disposal system for years.

He says it has helped South Australia achieve a recycling record which should be the envy of every other state and territory and he cannot understand why it's not embraced more broadly.

His appeal to the Queensland Government comes after witnessing an accumulation of rubbish illegally dumped on roadsides, waterways and national parks across rural and regional Queensland.

"I feel pretty bad about it, especially when you see a cow with a plastic bottle jammed halfway down its throat, can't swallow it, can't spit it back out. And it makes you wonder, where are we going?"

"That's one of the things that is driving me to continue to push this, is realising what we're actually doing to the countryside."

Cr Wilson, who is also head of the Local Authority Waste Management Advisory Committee, says the cost of setting up a container disposal scheme is far outweighed by the benefits.

"There would be a small (industry) levy, that would finance the whole scheme. I've been to South Australia, I've gone through their recycling depots, I've spoken to their administration and I'm fully convinced.

"We will have initially a cost to develop the scheme but after that it'll be virtually self funded.

"If it's 5 cents or 10 cents per article, so what? We have a cleaner State, our wildlife will be a lot healthier and our domestic animals."

But Minister Powell refutes the claim it would not cost taxpayers and says it could adversely impact the economic viability of existing kerbside recycling programs.

"The system is self funding but ultimately someone has to pay to fund a self funding system and that is the consumer. Educating our kids and rolling out recycling bins across the state in public areas and encouraging people to do the right thing, (is better than) the alternative of a container deposit legislation I feel and know from my reading of it, my exploration of it, would also produce some very concerning environmental outcomes."

ends