According to environmentalists, a national container deposits system (CDS) will provide $1.78 billion to perform the recycling process in the initial five years of operation. This amount is 17 times more than that offered by the national bin network from the beverage industry.
The Convenor of the Boomerang Alliance, Jeff Angel stated that the CDS funds ensure the recycling of additional 6 billion containers annually compared to the national bin program. In addition, the funds can support several measures to increase recycling throughout Australia.
A CDS helps to solve the packaging problem at very less cost compared to other options. It offers various benefits, including a $1.78 billion fund, very less impact on beverage prices, production of clean materials and financial boost for local ratepayers or councils. The funds are obtained from unredeemed deposits to support greater reprocessing and recycling in Australia, to increase CDS costs, local council efforts and public education on litter, and to enhance industrial and commercial collections. RIS data has revealed that a CDS causes minimum impact on beverage prices, which is one tenth of a cent per container by the year 2020.
In addition, a CDS makes clean materials, which attract a premium price and can be utilized for higher value recycling. Whereas, a bin approach often produces contaminated materials, which attract a lower price and lower value downcycling. Kerbside collections offer financial benefits to councils and ratepayers at approximately $2 billion over 20 years. Hundreds of new convenient drop-off centers have been established in South Australia, which will also accept non-beverage container materials. Finally, a container deposit system is a boon for charities.
Source: http://www.boomerangalliance.org.au/