Dan Andrews is the last person standing between Victoria and a container refund scheme

2019-10-16

The Victorian Greens have urged the Labor Government to support their legislation for a container refund scheme in Victoria, as the party gears to second read its bill today.

More than 50 industry experts, environmental groups and councils have unanimously supported a Victorian scheme through their submissions to the state’s waste and recycling crisis inquiry, and every other state and territory in Australia has already either adopted or committed to introducing a scheme.

Member for Melbourne, Ellen Sandell, said any adequate response to Victoria’s waste crisis would need to include a container refund scheme to reduce the litter and waste entering our rivers and streams and affecting our marine life.

TOMRA, the company that helps run container refund schemes in both NSW and QLD, in its own submission to the waste inquiry, said a well-designed container refund scheme in Victoria would:

  • Attract new investment of $70 million dollars into Victorian recycling infrastructure and generate an estimated 500+ local jobs
  • Double our beverage container recycling rates from 50 per cent to 80 per cent

And through a PBO costing obtained by the Victorian Greens in August, the party determined that a Victorian scheme would only cost the Government $9 million dollars over three years while raising $253.5 million dollars in revenue over the same time period.

Quotes attributable to Ellen Sandell MP, Victorian Greens Spokesperson for the Environment:

“Victoria is one of the only states without a 10c refund on bottles and cans.

“Why are Dan Andrews and Labor continuing to oppose a plan that would reduce waste, help save our marine life, and raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Victoria?”

Quotes attributable to Leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam MLC:

“Public submissions to the waste inquiry have revealed just how widespread support for a refund on bottles and cans is.

“More than 50 organisations, industry experts and local councils have expressed strong support for it and no-one has opposed it, except the Victorian Labor Government.

“If our Government is serious about tackling the waste crisis, a container refund scheme needs to be an essential part of the plan.”