House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Container Deposit Legislation CONTAINER DEPOSIT LEGISLATION Mr PICCOLO House of Assembly Light CONTAINER DEPOSIT LEGISLATION Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Conservation. Can the minister advise the house how successful the South Australian container deposit legislation has been since the doubling of the container deposit refund in 2008? The Hon. P. CAICA House of Assembly Colton Minister for Environment and Conservation Minister for the River Murray Minister for Water CONTAINER DEPOSIT LEGISLATION The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for his question, and I acknowledge his commitment to resource recovery. For more than 30 years South Australia's container deposit legislation has played a significant role in diverting waste from landfill and keeping beverage containers out of the litter stream. The container deposit legislation throughout its history has placed South Australia at the forefront of recycling in this country. In 2006, the scheme was declared a heritage icon by the National Trust of South Australia in recognition of the role it has played in contributing to South Australia's cultural identity. In 2008, the Rann government doubled the refund for beverage containers from 5¢ to 10¢ to provide a greater incentive for people to recycle and further reduce waste going to landfill. Today, I am very pleased to inform members that recent figures show return rates of beverage containers have jumped markedly since the government increased the refund amount in 2008. Since the refund increase, the return rate for beverage containers has increased by 14.6 per cent, which means that the total return rate for all beverage containers has reached 80 per cent for the first time in the history of the scheme. Over the past 22 months, more than 1.1 billion beverage containers have been returned to recycling depots, representing approximately $112 million going back to the South Australian community. This also represents approximately 91,300 tonnes of beverage containers that may have otherwise ended up in landfill or in the litter stream. KESAB, another very good South Australian organisation, conducts regular litter surveys in South Australia, and its most recent report of May 2010 shows that the number of CDL containers in the litter stream has reduced by approximately half compared with levels prior to the refund increase. Furthermore, the litter rates are nearly four times lower than they were in May 2003 when the container deposit legislation was expanded by the Rann government to include other types of containers, such as flavoured milks and fruit juices. The CDL scheme has also become a unique way for local community groups, sporting and recreation clubs and local charities to raise extra funds and engage the broader community. Indeed, I recently had the pleasure of attending the CanDo4Kids charity launch along with the honourable leader of the opposition, who I know recognises the great benefits that the scheme brings to our state. Our CDL scheme is one of the most successful recycling schemes in Australia, and I am very pleased that the Northern Territory government has recently indicated its intention to implement a container deposit legislation scheme next year, based on the South Australian scheme. South Australia has shown outstanding leadership to the rest of Australia with respect to our container deposit legislation. We will continue to raise this at the federal level so that other states can indeed learn from the evidence that we are able to provide about what a success this scheme is. The success of the container deposit scheme is undisputable. Not only has it benefited the environment through diverting waste from landfill and the litter stream, it has also made a considerable contribution to the success of community initiatives right around our state.