The aim of the schemes is to reduce litter by encouraging people to pick up the bottles, cans and cartons that mar streets, beaches and parks and claim the refund. But in August, the Victorian government and opposition combined to defeat a Greens upper house motion to introduce a container deposit scheme in Victoria by November next year. "We continue to look at container deposit schemes in other jurisdictions to understand the benefits and costs of various models, and how they might work in Victoria,” Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said in a statement to The Age. The Liberals claimed the Greens had inserted a “hidden tax” in the legislation, which would allow Treasury to requisition any unclaimed refunds. Credit:Quentin Jones

“Whilst the idea of a container deposit scheme sounds good in theory, all evidence to date indicates that it will be consumers who will end up being out of pocket especially when councils are currently doing a good job with recycling,” said opposition environment spokesman Nick Wakeling. The bill’s defeat has frustrated the Greens and environmental groups, who point to polls that show Victorians overwhelmingly want a container deposit scheme. “Victoria is the last mainland state to go,” says Terri-Anne Johnson, the managing director of Clean Up Australia. (Tasmania is looking at introducing a scheme but is also yet to commit to one.) “It (Victoria) is surrounded by deposit schemes - for them to continue to hold out just doesn’t make sense.” No-one is denying the NSW container deposit scheme, known as Return and Earn, had teething problems.

The scheme, which started on December 1 last year, was initially dogged by complaints about a lack of drop-off points, increased drink prices and disgruntlement that containers could not be crushed and therefore took up too much space. By late February, fewer than 500 of the promised 800 reverse vending machines had been rolled out. (There are now 677 return points.) Container deposit schemes bring increased costs to beverage manufacturers, which get passed on to consumers. Coca-Cola Amatil increased its prices by 13.6 cents per drink container in NSW (excluding GST) to recover the estimated costs of the scheme. In August it announced a $10 million “windfall” from the scheme because redemption rates under Return and Earn fell short of industry forecasts, leading to Coca-Cola Amatil collecting more money from consumers than needed to cover costs.

However Keep Australia Beautiful CEO Val Southam told Inside Waste that despite some issues with Return and Earn in the early days, it had significantly reduced litter in NSW. On average, three million containers a day are being collected at return points. Drink container litter had reduced by 33 per cent in the six months between November 2017 and May this year. Nina Springle, the Greens member who introduced the container deposit scheme bill to Victorian Parliament, acknowledged implementation in NSW had been problematic. “But the reality is that these problems have been overblown and used as an argument that container deposits aren’t a relevant and cost-effective solution to contemporary waste problems,” she said.

Ms Springle said the situation had become more urgent in the wake of stockpiled waste, fires at a recycling plant in Coolaroo that blanketed the city in toxic smoke and China’s National Sword restrictions on waste imports. China has signalled it will no longer be the world’s rubbish dump, banning 24 types of waste - including some plastics and paper - and setting a tougher standard for contamination levels as of January 1, 2018. The Greens have now had three attempts to introduce a container deposit scheme voted down in Victorian Parliament but will take the policy to the state election nonetheless. A couple of years ago, the NSW Environment Protection Authority Commissioned BehaviourWorks Australia at Monash University to review 47 container deposit schemes around the world. “Container deposit recycling schemes reduce litter overall,” Associate Professor Peter Bragge from BehaviourWorks Australia wrote in The Conversation.

“Data from seven US states show 69-83 per cent reductions in container waste and 30-47 per cent reductions in overall waste.” Dr Bragge said fears that container deposit schemes would cannibalise existing kerbside recycling programs - an argument mooted by former Victorian environment minister Lisa Neville - had also not been realised. “The evidence suggests that the effect, if any, is the reverse - marginal increases in kerbside recycling have been noted following the introduction of container deposit recycling legislation. This may be linked to the “spillover effect” where people are more likely to do one thing if they are already doing something similar.” Government schemes were also sustainable: “The 40 government schemes worldwide had operated for an average of 24.8 years and all except two are still going.” Dr Bragge told The Age he never argued container deposit schemes were cheap.

“The decision the community has to make is if they are willing to pay the cost for a scheme that has been shown to reduce litter.” The beverage industry has historically been fiercely opposed to container deposit schemes. However, the Australian Beverages Council says that has changed. “Our industry is now far more environmentally aware,” says general manager Alby Taylor. “We understand it’s important for us to play a part in the cradle-to-grave cycle of containers.” Mr Taylor believes it is inevitable that Victoria will one day have a container recycling scheme.

“The reality is we have seen the community support for these schemes in most of the other Australian states. Our view is that it is a matter of time before public opinion will induce governments to create these schemes in all states.”