Container Deposit Levy

Ms CLOVER MOORE (Sydney) [6.25 p.m.]: I wish to speak on an issue of great importance to my constituents, as well as to other New South Wales citizens—that is, the need for container deposit levy legislation. A container deposit levy requires consumers to pay a small levy on the price of drinks bought in containers, which can be refunded when the empty container is presented at recycling depots. A container deposit levy is a form of extended producer responsibility because waste management is addressed early in the life of the product. This year Clean Up Australia Day volunteers collected more than 7,200 tonnes of waste across the country, with the New South Wales contribution a massive 2,930 tonnes.

Clean Up Australia Day Chairman, Ian Kiernan, said that one-third of all the waste collected took the form of either plastic drink bottles or aluminium cans. Kerbside recycling, while important, fails to collect many plastic, glass, and aluminium items because their contents are often consumed outside the home. The Boomerang Alliance reports that for non-alcoholic beverages, 55 per cent of glass bottles, 39 per cent of PET plastic bottles, and 54 per cent of aluminium cans are consumed away from home. It concludes that the most kerbside recycling can ever achieve is a 50 per cent recycling rate for containers.

Recently, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that reported recycling rates used to guide policy had been significantly overestimated because they included containers from New Zealand. It said that figures provided to the Sydney Morning Herald show that Australia recycles only 36 per cent of glass and 31 per cent of plastic containers. In 2002 the New South Wales Government commissioned an independent report on container deposit levies, which concluded that a container deposit levy would reduce beverage litter in New South Wales by 70 per cent to 90 per cent and overall litter by about 50 per cent. The report calculated economic benefits of $100 million to $150 million and the creation of 1,000 additional jobs.

The Boomerang Alliance points out that container deposit levy legislation together with existing kerbside recycling would reduce the current $36 million gap between the cost of kerbside collection and the revenue raised from selling collected recyclables. The revenue collected from container deposits would also make recycling more economical because councils could use the funds to improve recycling and waste management services. The New South Wales Government has previously claimed that mutual recognition agreements within the National Packaging Covenant prohibit container deposit levies in New South Wales alone. However the Total Environment Centre has pointed out that mutual recognition agreements allow States to introduce legislation that restricts traded goods if the aim is to achieve environmental protection or pollution-control outcomes.

South Australia has had a successful container deposit levy in place since 1975, and it is now incorporated in the South Australian Environment Protection Act 1993. South Australia's Environment Protection Authority report on the economic and environmental impacts of the container deposit legislation points out that 1,700 jobs have been created as a result of container deposit levies and that South Australia has previously achieved a 90 per cent return rate. The South Australian Government announced an increase in levies from 5¢ to 10¢ to take effect later this year because recycling rates have dropped recently to about 70 per cent, which is still around double the New South Wales rate. Container deposit systems are used in many countries, including the United States, Austria, Finland, Israel, Japan and Taiwan. In the past five years Hawaii, Germany and Estonia have implemented some form of container deposits. Western Australia is considering container deposit levy legislation.

Australians are among the biggest waste producers in the world. I was very disappointed that the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, which comprises State and Federal environment Ministers, resolved not to take action to achieve its commitment to phase out plastic bags by 2009. There is widespread community support for container deposit legislation. Only industry is against the initiative. It currently subsidises only 1 per cent of council kerbside recycling costs, with ratepayers absorbing the rest. Continuing to delay the introduction of container deposit levies in New South Wales allows more and more recyclable waste to contribute to landfill. We will need to act fast if we are going to meet the target of increasing packaging recycling rates to 65 per cent by 2010. A system of container deposit levies has many environmental and economic benefits for the people of New South Wales. I strongly urge the Government to support container deposit levies in New South Wales and to push for a national deposit system at the next Environment Protection and Heritage Council meeting.

Question—That private members' statements be noted—put and resolved in the affirmative.

Private members' statements noted.


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