URGENT: CASH 4 CONTAINERS

AUSTRALIA, today we have the rare opportunity to make environmental history. The government is actually asking for your opinion on how to deal with single-use plastic bottles that are littering our country and threatening our precious oceans.

HOWEVER, we are up against a wealthy, tireless opponent, COCA-COLA & other such beverage giants who have proposed a lame and ineffective idea that will preserve their sugary-sweet income stream, but do little for our planet's plastic pollution crisis. Quick example, Coke's plan targets a weak 2.5% of litter and has no plan to increase recycling! Our plan (you, me, the fishies, the sea) targets millions of tons of litter and increases recycling to 80%. 

SUBMIT YOUR OPINION NOW. read more on Cash 4 Container history, submission tips, & plastic pollution stats below..

**SOURCES: Tim Silverwood of Take 3 , SMH , Boomerang Alliance 

 

BOTTLE ISSUE HISTORY

For decades Australians have been calling on the Government to introduce a real container deposit scheme (CDS). That’s where you pay a deposit on each drink container when you buy it, and get that deposit back when you return the empty container to your supermarket.

After dozens of petitions, hundreds of events and thousands of hours of hard work, the NSW Government has agreed to a CDS commencing on July 1st 2017!

But now that the Govt has agreed, all the corporations making bank off liquid crack packaged in plastic bottles are submitting half-ass proposals to offer our state the easy way out with less intense recycling efforts. Help ensure this critically important legislation gets across the line. Make a quick 2-minute submission to the government telling them why we need an EFFECTIVE Container Deposit Scheme--not a weak pseudo-solution that would make Coke happy but the dolphins sad. SUBMIT HERE NOW. Hurry, submissions close this Friday 26th February!!

Coco Cola, Lion Nathan, Schweppes and other big beverage companies want to derail the Government’s promised effective CDS and instead introduce an ineffective alternative called ‘THIRST FOR GOOD’. The plan looks more like a PR exercise than a true environmental solution, so we're calling on y'all to support the environmentalists and scientists who have done the research and strategy and have something that will work ready for Australia. 

Coke's CDS plan will target 2.5% of un-recycled plastic beverage containers to be returned to 800 reverse vending machines across NSW, and the "cash" for these containers will not go to the returnee, but to one of two nominated local charities. 

This proposal looks all too similar to a failed program launched by Coke in Texas in 2010 known as "Reimagine."

It provided reverse vending machines across Dallas, which recycled bottles in exchange for rewards points for local schools. The program was CANCELLED after just four years having only reclaimed one-half of one per cent of the 894,617,222 containers generated each year in Dallas.  

"You've got to offer an incentive...the whole notion of a container deposit scheme is that you can avoid a cost by doing the right thing." notes Dave West of the Boomerang Alliance.

SO, if we don’t tell the Government that we want an effective CDS developed and endorsed by leading experts and the environment sector then we will end up with the beverage industry’s terrible ‘Thirst for Good’ that’s doomed to fail! Let’s tell our Government to listen to the community and experts NOT COCA COLA! Make your submission now:www.boomerangalliance.org.au/submission

Once you’ve made your submission please share one of the posts below. We need THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE to make a submission by Friday 26th Feb.

SUBMISSION TIPS

(feel free to copy and paste or put these into your own words)

  • We want an effective CDS that will collect 80% of used containers for recycling.
  • We want an effective CDS that will achieve the Government’s target of a 40% reduction in litter by volume by 2020.
  • We want an effective CDS that provides a financial incentive (10 cents) for the return of used beverage containers. 
  • We want an effective CDS that relies on a network of reverse vending machines (RVM’s) placed in convenient locations at supermarkets, shopping centre car parks and petrol stations across the State making it easy for people to return used containers.
  • We want a container deposit scheme (CDS) that isn’t complicated. Pay a deposit when you buy a drink, get the deposit back next time you’re at the shops. Simple.
  • We want an effective CDS that includes all types and sizes of beverage containers including plastic, glass, aluminium and cardboard from 100ml to 3L. People don’t want to have to think too much about what is included and what is not.
  • We DON’T want a scheme that is complicated, doesn’t rely on a deposit-based incentive and won’t achieve the Government’s target of 80%+ collection and a 40% reduction in litter by volume. 
  • We DON’T want a CDS that has been developed by the beverage industry (who are utterly opposed to container deposit schemes) and is designed to fail. 


PLASTIC POLLUTION INFO

  • Over 8 BILLION used beverage containers end up in landfill or discarded into our environment in Australia every year. Less than half used containers are recycled.
  • Some research has found that up to ONE-THIRD OF TRASH FOUND ON COASTLINES around the world originates from the BEVERAGE INDUSTRY! Preventing bottles and cans and other beverage related products from entering the environment is CRITICAL if we are serious about preventing POLLUTION. 
  • Plastic pollution is devastating our oceans and wildlife. Each year over 8 MILLION TONNES of new plastic is entering our oceans and killing over a million innocent sea creatures. Who saw or ate a sea creature this week? We must learn to responsibly SHARE our water planet!
  • 50% of all sea turtles have ingested plastic and by 2050 scientists predict that 99% of all seabirds will have ingesting plastic.
  • There are regions in our oceans referred to as ‘garbage patches’ where human generated plastic trash swirls in gigantic vortices. Scientists have discovered over 40,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre in Antarctica’s ocean. We've all seen that photo of the trash wave in Indo...
  • Container deposit schemes WORK! In South Australia where a CDS has operated since 1977, they return over 80% of containers and have negligible beverage container litter. 
  • Container deposit schemes provide JOBS! Over 1500 new jobs will be created if NSW implements and effective CDS.
  • REVERSE VENDING MACHINE’S (RVM’s) placed in convenient locations in supermarkets, shopping centre car parks and petrol stations make it easy and inexpensive to recycle and get the deposit back They also reduce the cost of the system.
  • Clubs, charities, scouts/ guides and community groups will benefit from an effective CDS. In South Australia over $2m is raised for scouts from donated containers. Charities in NSW can benefit from over $65m per year with an effective CDS.
  • An effective container deposit scheme will COMPLIMENT existing kerbside recycling. Local councils will claim refunds on containers left in kerbside recycling, leading to a reduction in the cost of collection and a reduction in council rates. 
  • An effective CDS MUST rely on a cash/ financial incentive. Prizes and other rewards are not deposits and DON’T WORK. People are motivated by a cash incentive that they can choose to redeem, realise as credit on shopping or donate to a charity. 
  • MORE than 800 REVERSE VENDING MACHINE’S (RVM’s) should be placed in convenient locations in supermarkets, shopping centre car parks and petrol stations.
ACTIONKathryn NelsonCDS, boomerang alliance, Plastic Free, Take 3, Waste, Coca Cola Recycling, Cash for Containers, 2016, Container Deposit Scheme, Tim Silverwood, NSW, Plastic, Plastic Pollution, Minister Environment, Australia, Pollution, Save the Mermaids, Cash 4 Containers, Plastic Free Mermaid, I Quit Plastics, Recycling, SurfriderComment