Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Leeanne Enoch
A series of community forums will be held across Queensland to encourage community groups to participate in recycling opportunities through Queensland’s Container Refund Scheme, which starts on November 1.
Minister for Environment Leeanne Enoch said 29 community forums would be held across the state, from Cooktown to the Gold Coast and out to Longreach, to help community groups understand how the scheme will work, and how they can benefit from the recycling and financial opportunities.
“Queensland’s Container Refund Scheme will be a fantastic way for individuals and community groups to get financial benefits from recycling,” Ms Enoch said.
“Under the scheme, 10c will be funded for each eligible container, and people will be able to keep this refund or donate it.
“So far there has been significant interest from a range of community groups including charities, sporting teams, schools and other service organisations.”
Ms Enoch said Container Exchange (CoEx) – an independent, not-for-profit organisation that is implementing the scheme – will host a series forums over the coming months across Queensland and in capital cities around Australia for beverage manufacturers and retailers to ensure they too are scheme-ready.
As announced by CoEx this week, the estimated average cost charged to beverage manufacturers for the Queensland scheme will be 10.2c per container.
CoEx are ensuring beverage manufacturers will pay their contributions to the scheme ‘in arrears’, based on their previous months’ sales data.
“The approach to ensure payments from beverage manufacturers are calculated “in arrears” was taken following industry feedback that the impact on cash flow to beverage manufacturers needed to minimised,” Ms Enoch said.
“This 10.2c cost is less than what it was in NSW, which was about 13c when the scheme started.”
In the lead up to the community forums, which are due to start in the coming weeks, Ms Enoch encouraged members of the community to keep an eye out for details about their local forums.
“I encourage community groups of all shapes and sizes to learn more about the scheme and how they might participate,” she said.
“This scheme will make a real difference in providing more recycling opportunities for Queenslanders, while also providing financial benefits to those who do the right thing and recycle.”
For more information, visit the CoEx website.
More information about the Container Refund Scheme can be found here:
https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/pollution/management/waste/container-refund