We have delivered on our commitment to fix serious flaws within Queensland’s Containers for Change scheme, passing new reforms through Parliament last week which will ensure more of the money within the scheme is working for Queenslanders.
The landmark reforms come after a Parliamentary Inquiry exposed fundamental failures in the scheme established under Labor failed to make the changes needed to ensure it was delivering as it should for Queenslanders.
Since the scheme began, it has generated more than $2.5 billion in revenue, but the Inquiry found less than 40 per cent had been returned to Queenslanders through container refunds.
It also found surplus funds had been used to offset beverage industry costs, rather than being reinvested to improve the scheme or support environmental and charitable programs.
We have reviewed the scheme and fixed the failures, supporting or supporting-in-principle 20 of the Inquiry’s 21 recommendations.
The reforms, which passed through Queensland Parliament last week, will:
- get more money back to Queenslanders by driving better performance and more container returns;
- put surplus funds to work through a clear plan for how money is managed, invested and used;
- back local communities and the environment by enabling greater investment in charities, community programs, recycling infrastructure and environmental initiatives;
- make the scheme more accountable through independent audits, stronger reporting and greater Ministerial oversight;
- fix Labor’s governance failures with stronger independence and accountability requirements for the scheme coordinator and its Board; and
- provide relief to small beverage manufactures; and
- recycle more containers and materials by strengthening the scheme and expanding what can be recovered (including container lids).
The reforms complement the Crisafulli Government’s Less Landfill, More Recycling 2035 Queensland Waste Strategy, which is driving more recycling, better infrastructure and less waste going to landfill.
These reforms will mean more containers will be returned, more refunds claimed and a scheme that will work harder for Queenslanders.
An overview of the recommendations is available here: Improving the container refund scheme – qld.gov.au
