Cash for containers

A “Spring Clean” of the CBD on September 21 called on the state government to establish a container deposit scheme (CDS) in Victoria. 

As part of World Clean Up Day, more than 300 volunteers picked up 6120 litres of rubbish in the CBD over just two hours. One third of what was collected were beverage containers, which would be exchanged for money in all other states and territories.

“There’s an urgent need for the government to start aCDS,” vice president of Beach Patrol Australia Dr Ross Headifen said. “When plastic bottles are given a value, they will not be treated as garbage because people get a reward for returning containers.”