October 4, 2018
Residents who don’t live near Kingaroy, Cherbourg or Kilkivan will face a long drive if they want to claim refunds when the State Government’s new Container Refund Scheme (CRS) starts next month.
There will only be three drop-off points in the South Burnett: Kingaroy, Cherbourg and Kilkivan.
The next closest refund points will be at Kilcoy, Esk, Dalby, Gayndah or Gympie.
The CRS will impose a 10c levy on most common drink containers from November 1.
The scheme had originally been planned to start on July 1, but was postponed amid concerns insufficient refund points had been established.
Residents who want to reclaim the 10c levy that will apply to common drink containers from that date will need to take them to either of these collection points during business hours.
The Kingaroy container refund depot will be operated by Brisbane company Return.It.
On Thursday, Return.It told southburnett.com.au the company was still finalising a lease for its Kingaroy site, but was confident it would be open when the new scheme comes into operation.
“We will have a depot where people can exchange their containers for cash over the counter,” a company spokesman said.
The Cherbourg depot will be located on Cherbourg Road and will be operated by Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council, while the Kilkivan depot will be operated by the town’s post office.
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Footnote:
A similar scheme which was introduced in NSW last December led to NSW consumers paying an extra $110 million in CRS levies in the first three months of that scheme’s operation, but the NSW State Government only returned $8.3 million to them in refunds.
Another $46.65 million went to waste collection companies.
Part of the problem was that while the NSW Government promised there would be 440 collection points around the State, only 190 were in operation when the scheme began.
As well, the high cost of driving long distances to a local redemption point deterred many consumers, who preferred to put their cans into a recyclables bin in areas that had a waste recycling service.
