Environment minister Gabrielle Upton says the community supports the Return and Earn scheme. Credit:Peter Rae NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said results showed the community supported Return and Earn. "This massive decrease in the amount of litter in the environment is exactly the outcome that was intended and, as the scheme grows in popularity, its benefits will only increase," Ms Upton said. However, it has copped criticism ranging from a scarcity of collection points, to rorting by interstate can collectors and profiteering by beverage companies. Many of the businesses that signed up as collection points found that the trouble of handling the containers was not worth the extra customers, with the number of over-the-counter points slipping from 356 in May to the current 316.

Two Ones Cafe manager Martin McCleave, who praised the scheme as a lure for new customers when he signed up in December, said he lasted only a few months, after many of the containers deposited by customers were rejected by the network operator TOMRA Cleanaway. Cans and bottles need to be uncrushed, undamaged and carry their original labels, in order to prevent containers from being redeemed multiple times. "We dropped out because it was financially running at a loss for us," Mr McCleave said. Martin McCleave and Bee Seesong from Two Ones Cafe in Randwick, which was a collection point for the refund scheme. Credit:Janie Barrett Cleanaway offered to provide more information on eligible containers, but he was concerned that it was not always clear-cut.

"I take my containers to the machine and there are a lot of containers that are rejected and we can’t figure out why. One brand of aluminium cans that we use, it rejects the yellow ones." Existing over-the-counter collection points were mixed in their assessment of the scheme. One Surry Hills business manager told the Herald that the arrival of people carrying hundreds of cans interfered with his ability to serve customers, although others said it was a success. "It’s cleaning the environment and it’s making good business as well," Henry Gupta, owner of Payless Fuel in Sydenham, said. There are 680 return points, with reverse vending machines accounting for 80 per cent of container volume. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of NSW reported in September that the increase in beverage prices since the scheme began was largely consistent with its cost and there was no evidence of anti-competitive behaviour.

Drinks prices have increased by 7½¢ on average since the scheme took effect, with beer prices up 4½¢ per container, fruit juice up by 4.8¢ and water and soft drinks by 10¢ per container. NSW residents were drinking fewer non-alcoholic beverages since the scheme was introduced, with a reduction of about 790ml per household per month, but had increased spending on non-alcoholic beverages by 93¢ per household per month. Some of these consumers, particularly in regional areas, did not have easy access to collection points where they could recoup the additional cost of their drinks. Una Bell loads a can into a Return and Earn recycling machine in Gladesville. Credit:Daniel Munoz IPART said there would be less volatility in prices if suppliers were invoiced in arrears as opposed to the current system whereby the scheme co-ordinator forecast the number of containers that would be recycled and reconciled the difference at the end of each quarter.

IPART also recommended that the NSW government publish its contracts with TOMRA Cleanaway and network manager Exchange for Change to improve transparency, following concerns about the implications the appointment of a single network operator with close ties to Woolworths. The NSW Environmental Protection Authority declined to indicate whether it would adopt these recommendations. There are others who have exploited the scheme as an extra income source, although not a particularly lucrative one. Emmanuel Zammit sifts through recycling bins for drink containers to cash in at the reverse vending machine in Bondi. Credit:Harriet Alexander Emmanuel Zammit and Russ Peters recently visited the reverse vending machine at Bondi Beach to cash in several thousand bottles and cans they obtained by sifting through yellow recycling bins.