Container Deposit Scheme

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (16:34): South Australia has much of which to be proud, and today I want to focus on one particular aspect of that: the outstanding levels of recycling that go on in the state. In particular, I want to focus on the container deposit legislation. Members here would be aware that this legislation was introduced in 1975 by the then environment minister, Glen Broomhill, of the Dunstan government. The scheme became operational in 1977. By putting a price on soft drink and alcohol bottles, cans and plastics, an industry was created. What we witnessed was a sudden, dramatic change in behaviour.

I do not think that there would be too many people in this chamber, and in fact there might be none, who, when coming across a 10¢ piece on the ground, would not stop to pick up that 10¢. Perhaps there is a person in this chamber who would not stop to pick up that 10¢, but certainly most people would. Of course, that is what immediately happened with containers that had a deposit on them: people picked them up or stored them to the extent that very soon we no longer saw cans and bottles in the waste stream, no longer saw these items on the side of the road and no longer saw these containers in our waterways. Overnight, what was once regarded as rubbish became valuable.

It is amazing what a price on something can do to change behaviour, and that is why this government's position on a price on carbon is the correct position. A price on carbon would immediately bring about a change in behaviour. However, I digress—back to the container deposit legislation. Another major benefit of this legislation was the subsequent creation of the 100-plus recycling depots that we have across the state today. These depots would not have been established if it were not for the container deposit scheme. Today, these depots are collecting and taking a significant amount of recyclable material beyond the containers.

The weekend before last, I travelled to Sydney to watch our son James play his 100^th game of Aussie Rules for the mighty UTS Bats. This should come as no surprise to anyone here, particularly those who know me, but whenever I am interstate I always have a look through the rubbish bins, both those that are public and those that are private. I do this to get an understanding of the recycling that occurs and the processes by which the state manages their container recycling.

I can tell you that in Sydney they have a lot of signs promoting recycling of these items and also espousing how well it is going and how effective it is. I can inform the house that my view is that New South Wales is not anywhere near matching their rhetoric. In Bondi Beach, where James lives, there is a three-bin public bin system: one is for general rubbish and litter, one is for containers and the other is for organic material. The reality is that everything is commingled. If you have a look through them, you see that they are not really applying what it is they want to apply for putting the items in those bins.

They also have a private collection system similar to ours, a three-bin system: general rubbish; cans, bottles and cardboards; and the other for organics. When looking through these bins, I can say that in many circumstances there is also significant commingling of all materials throughout all these bins. I do acknowledge that some people, probably many, try very hard, but when you have many people living in units, where bins are shared amongst those who live there, it makes it even more problematic to actually get it right.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why most state governments across Australia have refused to endorse a national scheme for container deposit that would be mirrored in state and territory legislation across Australia. Surely, they must be able to see the benefits of such a scheme. They need only look at the evidence—that evidence, of course, being South Australia. I do know the reason: interstate governments have consistently succumbed to the lobby of the major players, Coca-Cola Amatil and the beer and beverage industry, amongst others. They say that it would be cost prohibitive and adversely impact on their businesses. What absolute poppycock, I say.

I did have a look at the stores in Sydney when I was over there. A carton of beer at the major national bottle shops in Sydney costs the same as it does in Adelaide. A carton of Coke, for example, on sale at the two big supermarket chains, costs the same in Sydney as it does in Adelaide. The only real difference is that we see these items, these containers, in parks, in gutters and, of course, in landfill. I think it is time, in fact it is overdue, for Australian states to enact mirror legislation, which should be facilitated by the commonwealth, to put in place what would effectively become a national container deposit scheme. I urge all states in Australia, and indeed the national government, to pursue this very good initiative.