New bill to launch Canberra’s cash for cans scheme

Garfield said :

dungfungus said :

Garfield said :

dungfungus said :

Garfield said :

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

If the empty containers are consigned to domestic recycling bis they will end up at the recycling centre which isn’t owned by the government so how are they going to get the redemption value? I doubt if the recycler is going to pay someone to sort through them.

Did you read the article?

“This form of recycling is to continue for residents who choose to put their containers in their yellow bins at home, with refunds to be shared between the Material Recovery Facility that processes the containers and the ACT Government.”

So people who put their recycling in the yellow bin will be gifting money to the ACT government and the recycling facility operators.

Yes, I agree with what you say but my point was that it is not realistic to have someone manually sort the redeemable stuff from the rest. I wouldn’t expect anyone in the government to understand that.

Its my understanding they have people there sorting now, so I don’t see it as being that big a change for the recycling facility.

That is correct but as was last shown there, the sorting is limited to removing non-recyclable material only (baby nappies, dead kittens etc) . A lot of the recyclable stuff will already be the plastic beverage containers that will soon be worth 10c each so it would defeat the purpose of having a mechanised system feeding a baler if people are going to have to manually retrieve most of the stuff from the feed chute? And when they are returned to the manufacturer, who pays the freight etc.?

dungfungus said :

Garfield said :

dungfungus said :

Garfield said :

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

If the empty containers are consigned to domestic recycling bis they will end up at the recycling centre which isn’t owned by the government so how are they going to get the redemption value? I doubt if the recycler is going to pay someone to sort through them.

Did you read the article?

“This form of recycling is to continue for residents who choose to put their containers in their yellow bins at home, with refunds to be shared between the Material Recovery Facility that processes the containers and the ACT Government.”

So people who put their recycling in the yellow bin will be gifting money to the ACT government and the recycling facility operators.

Yes, I agree with what you say but my point was that it is not realistic to have someone manually sort the redeemable stuff from the rest. I wouldn’t expect anyone in the government to understand that.

Its my understanding they have people there sorting now, so I don’t see it as being that big a change for the recycling facility.

Garfield said :

dungfungus said :

Garfield said :

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

If the empty containers are consigned to domestic recycling bis they will end up at the recycling centre which isn’t owned by the government so how are they going to get the redemption value? I doubt if the recycler is going to pay someone to sort through them.

Did you read the article?

“This form of recycling is to continue for residents who choose to put their containers in their yellow bins at home, with refunds to be shared between the Material Recovery Facility that processes the containers and the ACT Government.”

So people who put their recycling in the yellow bin will be gifting money to the ACT government and the recycling facility operators.

Yes, I agree with what you say but my point was that it is not realistic to have someone manually sort the redeemable stuff from the rest. I wouldn’t expect anyone in the government to understand that.

Maya123 said :

Garfield said :

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

Drinking both bottled water and soft drinks are not a necessity of life, so it’s not necessary to fund either. If you do, you choose to. Others will choose not to. The tap water is good and soft drinks are a choice item; also not necessary. I never understand, with water in particular, why I see people buying water in Canberra. We won the best water in NSW after all. Some people must enjoy wasting their money and being responsible for plastic waste.

At the moment I choose to consume the odd beverage that comes in a container that will be covered under this scheme, and every single container goes in my yellow recycling bin. We’re not a communist state yet and still have some personal freedoms. You seem to be completely missing the point I was making that people doing the right thing now in regards to their recycling will be financially penalised under this scheme. Even if we separate out the applicable containers, there’s still time, storage and transport costs just to get the deposits back. The purpose of this scheme is to increase recycling, but for people like me there will be no increase in recycling but we will incur additional costs that will end up in the pocket of the government as they profit from our good recycling habits.

dungfungus said :

Garfield said :

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

If the empty containers are consigned to domestic recycling bis they will end up at the recycling centre which isn’t owned by the government so how are they going to get the redemption value? I doubt if the recycler is going to pay someone to sort through them.

Did you read the article?

“This form of recycling is to continue for residents who choose to put their containers in their yellow bins at home, with refunds to be shared between the Material Recovery Facility that processes the containers and the ACT Government.”

So people who put their recycling in the yellow bin will be gifting money to the ACT government and the recycling facility operators.

The beverage industry will pass this levy on to the consumer, so where does that leave people like myself who have been doing the right thing and have conscientiously sorted their recyclables for kerbside collection ever since that service commenced?

It means that we will effectively be fined for every recyclable drink container, as if littering, for merely continuing to do that right thing – because we’re not going to get our deposit back if we put those containers into our yellow bins.

If I’m going to effectively be fined anyway for continuing to do that right thing, then I might as well treat it as a pre-paid indulgence and do something to deserve the fine – maybe put those containers into my landfill rubbish in future?

At the moment, I only need to put my landfill rubbish bin out about once every three weeks, so I wouldn’t mind making more use of the service – accompanied, in this case, by some civil disobedience.

Garfield said :

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

If the empty containers are consigned to domestic recycling bis they will end up at the recycling centre which isn’t owned by the government so how are they going to get the redemption value? I doubt if the recycler is going to pay someone to sort through them.

Garfield said :

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

Drinking both bottled water and soft drinks are not a necessity of life, so it’s not necessary to fund either. If you do, you choose to. Others will choose not to. The tap water is good and soft drinks are a choice item; also not necessary. I never understand, with water in particular, why I see people buying water in Canberra. We won the best water in NSW after all. Some people must enjoy wasting their money and being responsible for plastic waste.

So the beverage industry will fund it, which means consumers will fund it through higher prices, but then when people use their yellow bins, as would be the case for the majority of containers at the moment, the government will take the money themselves. Why does this sound like another cost of living increase with the government ending up with more money in its coffers than would otherwise be the case, and isn’t another name for that a tax increase?

Maya123 said :

Not something I use enough of to dispose of. My water comes from the tap. Rarely drink soft drinks. The last can I threw in the recycling, was one someone chucked on my front footpath. Can’t remember the last time I personally had a soft drink can to recycle. But some people generate an enormous amount of waste, so likely a good idea.

I think the major problem is from discarded plastic water bottles. It certainly is a rarity to see a discarded soft-drink can these days. Most soft drinks are dispensed from post mixers at the takeaway hamburger restaurant outlets and the containers they use (open top cardboard milkshake shape containers) do not appear to be covered specifically by the proposed legislation. The plastic straws that accompany the sale of takeaway beverages and of course, disposable coffee cups do not get a mention either.