In the article Coasties are recycling champs (CCN 428), local MPs Liesl Tesch and Adam Crouch both praise the NSW Government’s Return and Earn scheme for its great contribution to recycling and for the $54M raised for charities and community groups.
But how much has it really contributed to recycling?
Many of the people who submit containers at the return points obtain those containers from residents’ yellow recycling bins when they are put out in the street for collection, and from Council street recycling bins.
In other words, containers that would have been recycled anyway.
Has anyone done any official research into how many of the containers that are submitted at the Return and Earn return points are containers that would not otherwise have been recycled?
As for the $54M raised for charities and community groups, couldn’t the NSW Government have given them the money as grants, rather than making them and their supporters work so hard to earn it?
While there may continue to be a limited role for the Return and Earn scheme, especially if many more return points are installed (for example there is currently only one full return point on the Woy Woy Peninsula) and the 10c per container refund amount is significantly increased to something like $1, the main scheme for recycling will continue to be Council resident and commercial recycling bins because of their convenience.
More effort needs to be made to encourage residents and businesses to put recyclables in their yellow recycling bins rather than in their red landfill bins or in public landfill litter bins.
Perhaps a scheme could be devised to financially reward residents and businesses for the number of recyclable containers they put in their yellow recycling bins, similar to the Return and Earn scheme.
Email, Mar 4
Tim Slocum, Umina Beach
how much does the state government earn from non recycling of these containers? most families do not and pay a tax to buy a bottle of water and the waste gets recycled regardless. it’s a money spinner.