THE NSW government’s decision to implement a 10 cent refund for drink containers could dramatically increase the life expectancy of Tamworth’s tip.
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Earlier this month, Premier Mike Baird announced the scheme would kick in from July next year in an effort to tackle litter across the state and improve recycling.
Containers take up about 44 per cent of the total waste volume in NSW.
Tamworth council’s Waste and Water diector, Bruce Logan, said based on that figure, successfully removing more material would “significantly improve” the lifetime of the waste management facility.
“The other issue the container deposit scheme raises is the capacity of Challenge Recycling to handle significantly more recycled material,” Mr Logan said.
Councillor James Treloar said the container deposit scheme was on the agenda of his first local government conference in 1988.
“I am so thrilled that ‘some years’ later the state government has chosen to act on it,” he said with a grin.
Cr Trealoar said South Australia had successfully operated a deposit scheme for many years, so there was no point in trying to reinvent the wheel.
“I think it is going to be a thing the NSW government is going to try and reinvent, but if we just follow South Australia it would be a very good starting point,” he said.
“We need to ensure that there is not just one deposit place that you can get your refund, but several in the city.
“Whether some are run by schools and charities with a partial payment to the provider and the rest maintained by the charity organisation.
“While it might be a 10 cent deposit, you might get five cents for taking it back [to the school or charity] and the rest kept by that organisation.
“We should be exploring all those opportunities. We really do need to get as much out of our waste stream as possible.”
Deputy mayor Russell Webb welcomed the “great move” and said he remembered collecting bottles after school for pocket money.
Cr Mark Rodda also remembers going to his dad’s work to “bolt around and collect all the glass bottles”.
“I’m hopeful this will reduce a lot of waste in our communities, whether that be in waterways, parks, gardens or general neighbourhoods,” Cr Rodda said.
