The Conservation Council of South Australia (CCSA) SA's peak environmental body representing over 55 member groups, have today called for a consistent national approach to Container Deposit Legislation (CDL) modelled on the successful SA legislation.
The call came after the leaked release of an industry funded audit showed the National Packaging Council's (NPC) own estimates of the proportion of recyclable materials were seriously flawed and self-regulation had failed to stem the flood of recyclable materials from going to landfill.
The NPC had previously claimed a 56% recycling rate for post consumer packaging (in their last Annual Report) compared to their target of 65%. The independent audit however found it to be 48%, with the latest analysis showing a mere 43% was recycled.
"In contrast, we know that the SA model of CDL has been very successful with recycling rates of up to 85% in the past. Recent changes to the scheme are likely to result in even higher increases in rates of return" CCSA CEO Ms. Julie Pettett said.
"The NPCs report highlights that the path of industry self-regulation regarding recycling packaging simply doesn't work and condemns the rest of Australia to higher amounts of litter, increased pollution, faster filling landfills, wasted resources and higher greenhouse gas emissions" she added.
"SAs innovative and workable CDL approach to recycling is now being looked at by other jurisdictions and with good reason! Now is clearly the time to introduce a national approach to ensure a level playing field for all industry players and to give other states similar benefits in terms of a cleaner environment and less valuable, recyclable resources going to waste" she said.
"Less recyclable material going to landfill makes it good news for the environment as only 1/7th the energy is needed to re-manufacture an aluminium can compared to the original product. Recycling is an easy way to reduce carbon emissions - essential if we are serious in meeting our greenhouse gas emission targets "Ms Pettett stated.
"Its time to get serious about cleaning up Australia by reducing, recycling and reusing our waste wherever and whenever we can" Ms Pettett said.
"SAs recycling record has shown that there are win-win solutions that are not unnecessarily onerous on industry and can be guaranteed to have a positive impact on the environment" she concluded.
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