The National Retail Association has congratulated the Queensland Government on its move to expand its container deposit scheme to include wine and spirit bottles from 1 November.
NRA CEO Greg Griffith agrees that the move will see a significant amount of beverage containers prevented from ending up in landfill and polluting waterways.
“Retailers congratulate the Queensland Government on the scheme’s expansion. We foresee it will have real environmental and social-economic benefits for Queenslanders and will push us closer to a circular economy for beverage containers.
“With news this week that Australia will fall short of it 2025 sustainable packaging targets, we need to be doing everything we can to increase recycling.”
Mr Griffith said the retail sector is looking forward to consulting with the Queensland government throughout the next six months in the lead up to the program expansion.
“The success of the scheme relies heavily on collaboration between the whole supply chain, the state government as well as consumers.
“We need to make sure the expansion process is as seamless as possible and we look forward to consulting with the government on behalf of retailers with optimism that other states will follow suit.
“Consumers have already embraced the scheme, returning over 6.4 billion containers since 2018.
“In the cost of living crunch that is expected to linger into 2024, the scheme expansion will also be a big help for consumers looking for some extra cash to spend on their weekly grocery shop.”
The National Retail Association is the voice of modern retail, representing more than 60,000 stores across Australia. It has been serving businesses in the retail and fast-food sectors for close to 100 years.
For more information, please contact the NRA media unit at marketing@nra.net.au or 1800 RETAIL (738 245).