Container deposit legislation in Australia
Container deposit legislation (CDL), also known as a container deposit scheme (CDS), is a scheme that was first implemented in South Australia in 1977 and over the decades has spread to the Northern Territory in 2012, New South Wales in 2017, the Australian Capital Territory in June 2018, Queensland in November 2018, Western Australia in October 2020 and Victoria in November 2023.
[6] State-based schemes need to be exempted from the Commonwealth Mutual Recognition Act which guarantees products can be sold in any jurisdiction without requiring any special labelling.
[11] Around 600 people are employed in the recovery of bottles in South Australia with community groups such as the Scouts to operate container refund depots.
[14] The introduction was challenged in the Federal Court by Coca-Cola Amatil, Schweppes Australia and Lion Pty Ltd using the Commonwealth Mutual Recognition Act and the scheme ceased on 4 March 2013.
[15] Immediately after the Federal Court loss, the NT government personally stepped in to keep the scheme going until a permanent exemption to the Mutual Recognition Act could be secured.
[17] In the 2000s the New South Wales government indicated it wished to push ahead with a container deposit scheme as part of a raft of new policies aimed at protecting the environment and preventing litter.
[18] The scheme has strong backing from the public, various politicians, NSW councils,[19] and various environmental groups such as Cleanup Australia, Boomerang Alliance, and Total Environment Centre.
[29] In February 2015 the newly elected Palaszczuk government gave in-principle support for the scheme and established a public consultation process on structure and operations.
[30] On 22 July 2016 the government announced the introduction of a Container Deposit Scheme "to get drink cans and bottles off our beaches, and out of our parks and public areas".
The Minister for Environment, Bill Marmion, said that WA would wait for a national "consultation regulatory impact statement" to be completed at the end of 2011 before taking any action.
Minister for the Environment Albert Jacob said that efforts to pursue a national scheme had "fallen by the wayside" but that Western Australia's policy should be aligned with recent changes in Queensland and New South Wales.
[39] After a change of government at the March 2017 election, the new Environment Minister Stephen Dawson said he wanted to make a container deposit scheme a priority.
In August 2017 the new WA Government held public consultation, and it will start a container deposit scheme in 2020 in a bid to lift the State's low recycling rates.
In February 2015, then Environment Minister, Lisa Neville, under the Andrews government, had publicly said she was not in favour of a container deposit scheme for Victoria.
[46] In February 2020, as part of a recycling policy overhaul, D'Ambrosio announced that the state would introduce a container deposit scheme which commenced on 1 November 2023, after consulting with industry and local government.
[47] In December 2014 a state-based deposit scheme was rejected by the government, citing costs and the need to ship containers to the Australian mainland for processing.
