The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) says the latest report by the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee on a Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) has cleared the beverage industry of claims it had profiteered in the operation of such schemes in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The council also expressed satisfaction that the committee had called on the South Australian and Northern Territory governments to review the existing schemes in those regions with an eye to increasing the schemes' accountability and transparency.
State and federal environmental ministers are currently engaged in industry and community consultation about the feasibility of establishing a nationwide CDS.
The ongoing study, expected to result in a final decision on a scheme next year, follows the failure to reach consensus on a proposed CDS in August this year.
The committee’s latest report, tabled in early November, found no credible evidence of profiteering by the beverage industry in the operation of the South Australian and Northern Territory schemes, the AFGC said.
AFGC chief executive Gary Dawson said that the report debunked “myths being pedalled about container deposit schemes”.
“As well as rejecting the baseless allegations of profiteering, the report adds weight to industry calls for alternatives that provide better outcomes at lower cost,” Dawson said.
He said the committee's report also demonstrated serious flaws in the operation of container deposit schemes in South Australia and Northern Territory.
“On this evidence it would be difficult to argue the merits of extending dysfunctional state based schemes to a national scale.”
He said comments by CDS advocates such as environmental lobby group the Boomerang Alliance was also critical of the schemes already in operation.
“In their testimony to the Senate Committee inquiry the Boomerang Alliance also admitted that the South Australian container deposit scheme is one of the most expensive schemes in the world, something industry had been telling successive governments for the past decade or more,” Dawson said.
He welcomed the committee’s recommendation that the South Australian and Northern Territory governments review their existing container deposit schemes with a view to provide greater accountability and transparency around system performance to consumers.
“These schemes were designed and forced on industry by the SA and NT governments,” he said.
“There are alternative models on the table that would deliver the same outcomes for recycling and litter reduction at much lower cost to the community than container deposit schemes.”
Opinions are sharply divided over the notion of a national container deposit scheme to combat packaging waste.
