The Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT), on behalf of the three
regional waste bodies – the Southern Waste Strategy Authority, Northern Tasmania
Waste Management and the Cradle Coast Waste Management Group – has released
an assessment of the potential financial impacts of a Container Deposit Scheme on
Local Government kerbside and public place recycling, and litter management in
Tasmania.

While the Commonwealth Government’s Packaging Impacts Consultation Regulation
Impact Statement (PICRIS) suggests significant benefits to Local Government
nationally, the Tasmanian study, undertaken by Equilibrium, has found that the
benefits for Tasmania would not be as high.

LGAT President, Mayor Barry Easther said in a best case scenario, kerbside costs in
Tasmania as a result of a Container Deposit Scheme may be reduced by up to
$26.8 million over 20 years, or an average saving of $1.3 million per year.
“In Tasmania, collection and processing costs are higher than the national average,
contamination rates are generally high, the proportion of glass in kerbside is higher
and the value of recyclable materials is lower than the national average,” Mayor
Easther said.

“Tasmania also has some uncommon issues such as limited local end markets for all
materials, limited opportunities for glass processing and higher freight costs.”

“A Container Deposit Scheme is expected to cause incremental change to recycling
and litter management,” he said.

“The impact would vary from council to council as recycling and litter practices and
costs vary. The extent to which benefits could be realised is dependent on being
able to achieve modelled outcomes.”

“Regardless, the results of the assessment were more positive than many would
have anticipated.”

The report’s key finding is that “Overall, while the impacts of a Container Deposit
Scheme for Tasmanian Local Government are not as beneficial as generally
estimated in the PICRIS, a Container Deposit Scheme will potentially be beneficial to
the viability of the Tasmanian kerbside recycling system as it will increase the
convertible value of the materials in a kerbside recycling bin”.

“We will share the results with the State Government as an input to their recently
announced tender process for a cost benefit study of a Tasmanian container deposit
system so that a picture of risks and benefits can continue to be built,” Mayor Easther
said,

“In future, we may need to look at a range of scenarios and case study individual
council impacts,” he said.

The full report is available on the LGAT website at www.lgat.tas.gov.au

or,

Download:

Report_-_CDS_impacts_for_Tasmanian_Local_Government_-_December_2013.pdf
LGAT President, Mayor Barry Easther