The Australian Food and Grocery Council has again weighed in on the controversial Container Deposit Scheme issue, this time describing a petition by environmental lobby group, The Boomerang Alliance, as misleading.
According to the AFGC, a petition prepared by the Boomerang Alliance failed to disclose that to get a 10c deposit back on glass and plastic drink containers, consumers were likely to have to hand over up to 20c extra at the cash register.
The AFGC said the Boomerang Alliance petition was therefore based on a false description of a container deposit scheme. AFGC CEO Gary Dawson said the environmental lobby was advocating a system that would cost consumers at the checkout.
“Nowhere in the world is there a drink container deposit scheme that is free to consumers. This environmental group is lobbying for a new tax on glass and plastic drink containers, which will push up an average family’s grocery bills by more than $300 a year," he said.
“All Australians need to know that the Council of Australian Governments has found the cost of this scheme will be up to $1.76 billion to the economy.”
In April, The Boomerang Alliance, which is formed from 27 different green and community groups, handed a petition seeking a national container deposit scheme, signed by 68,000 people, to the office of the NSW Premier.
Dawson said, however, that a 2009 survey showed that 68 per cent of community members preferred an 'away from home' recycling scheme to a container deposit scheme.
He said industry also wanted more recycling and less litter - and an 'away from home' recycling scheme could deliver this at no cost to consumers.
“That's the plan that Australia needs and wants, not an inconvenient and costly drink container tax," he said.
The Northern Territory currently runs a container deposit scheme, but in March, the federal court found that drink companies did not have to comply with relevant provisions of the scheme.
The AFGC at the time also launched an 'away from home' $5 million NT Bin Network pilot. At the launch it said the bin network would increase recycling and reduce litter arising from all packaging without costing Territory families, unlike the ‘Cash for Containers’ scheme which only focused on beverage containers.
Last month, however, the NT Government announced it would seek to keep the Northern Territory’s container deposit scheme in operation.
The AFGC says an environmental lobby petition was based on a false description of a container deposit scheme.
