Cade Lucas
Litter in Wyndham will halve when Victoria’s long-awaited container deposit scheme begins later this year.
That’s according to the Werribee River Association who are celebrating last Friday’s announcement from State Environment Minister, Ingrid Stitt, that the scheme will officially begin on November 1.
The commencement of the CDS will see Victoria will finally join all other states and territories in offering refunds for drink containers.
Ten cents will be offered for every approved glass, aluminum and plastic containers delivered to one of the 600 collection sites across the state.
The CDS is expected to particularly benefit Wyndham, one of the country’s fastest growing local government areas with extensive coastline and waterways.
The Werribee River Association estimated it had removed 15000 containers from beaches, waterways and public areas in Wyndham since 2015.
The WRA’s Lisa Field, said the refund scheme is long overdue.
“We have done everything we can to advocate for it. We have been counting bottles, plastic and glass for many, many years and providing that data to government to say ‘look at how many containers are out there on the landscape.” she said.
After years of resistance, the Andrews Government committed to a CDS in 2020 and has since undertaken public consultation and established a legislative and regulatory framework.
Ms Field said the CDS would not only reduce the amount of litter, but provide revenue for charities and community organisations.
“The container deposit scheme is expected to halve the litter problem, which will be a much-welcomed outcome for our
volunteers and for the environment.
Plus, we are looking forward to working with the network
provider to become a charity, in receipt of container donations.”
At 10c each, 10 000 containers will need to be collected to earn a $1000, hardly a get rich quick scheme.
However, Field said it will still act as an incentive for people to pick up litter, which has become a problem around Wyndham’s shopping centers and business districts, driven by rapid population growth.
“With all this growth and new estates, communities have popped up quite quickly and fast food shops have popped up and they’re often where we find litter.”
The state’s recycling body, VicReturn, will coordinate the scheme, while waste and packaging companies, Visy, TOMORA Cleanaway and Return-It will be network operators.
Information on eligible containers and how charities and community groups can register with the scheme, is available on the Victorian Government website.
www.vic.gov.au/container-deposit-scheme
