Who remembers taking their bottles back to the shop?
When I was a kid, we used to scour football games and indeed the streets, looking for bottles we could take to the shop to pick up a few cents for lollies. While I was focused on lollies, the result was there were no bottles lying on the side of the road because they all went back to their makers. Clean Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan is arguing we need to bring this scheme back, putting a deposit on all bottles across the country.
Kiernan argues South Australia still has this scheme in place, with a 10c deposit, and as a result their recycling rates are double the rest of Australia. He is supported by many environment groups such as http://www.bringitback.org.au/boomerang/
What do you think? Would you be more likely to recycle your bottles and cans if you got a deposit back on them? Would it be a good culture change program as well, teaching us all that packaging needs to go back to the manufacturer?
How is this Updated?
Great! These sort of simple initiatives really add up and it’s crazy we don’t have a scheme like this isnt everywhere
Apparently scouts in Sth Australia make millions out of the scheme there for camps and equipment and things like that
I remember getting 5 cents for a soft drink bottle at my local show and buying a purple-dyed day-old-chicken with my loot. We called him Flavius Maximus, but that’s another story.
The whole container deposit thing just makes so much sense, and there’s a lot more than cans and bottles to collect once we get it happening. Think of all the e-waste from batteries and mobile phones to computers and TVs, and lots more.
Bring it on!
my kids would be out every weekend collecting bottles if they knew they could earn pocket money to buy lego! It is simple and effective way to get the resources back into circulation and off our roadsides and out of our bushland. Even if litter bugs persist in dropping rubbish – others will pick it up – especially with a 10 cent reward per container!
Counted 70+ drink containers on the F3 roadside between Kariong and Somersby last Friday.
Picked up a shopping bag full of containers at the local skate park in between kids soccer games on Saturday .. every day is clean up Australia day .. I think people are so used to seeing litter these days. It is very sad. 10 cent refund on containers could change this. It’s definitely worth doing.
Great Idea
I think this is a great idea and I don’t know why we ever got rid of it. I see so many cans and bottles just lying around – if kids could make pocket money out of picking them up, our streets would be cleaner.
Great idea! it’s ridiculous all of these materials get dumped in landfills.
I see environment ministers are deciding on this next week in Darwin. It’s about time … the scouts in sth Australia are involved and make millions for equipment and camps etc.
What an excellent idea! Why don’t we do this, it would solve so many problems so easily.
This is clearly the way we should be going. It gives extra incentive for people to do what they know is right but sometimes need some encouragement to do.