Cost of bottled and canned drinks set to rise with the introduction of refund scheme

August 1, 2017
AAP

The cost of bottled and canned drinks is set to go up.

COCA-COLA Amatil is among major beverage companies that will oversee the NSW government’s incoming container deposit scheme that could push up the price of drinks in bottles and cans by up to 20 cents.

Under the scheme anyone who hands in eligible drink bottle containers at designated sites across the state from December will get a 10 cent refund. Beverage suppliers will pay for the refunds as well as the scheme’s administration, with the costs tipped to be passed on to consumers in a hike in soft drink prices.

It is estimated the cost of a 24-can pack of soft drink or beer could rise up to $4.80 each.

“That starts to impact NSW households pretty heavily, not just on a per container basis, but when families are buying a 30 pack of soft drink cans or a carton of beer, all of a sudden that starts to have a pretty serious impact,” Australian Beverages Council chief executive officer Geoff Parker told the Daily Telegraph.

Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) will work with Asahi, Carlton & United Breweries, Coopers and Lion in an industry joint venture — dubbed Exchange for Change — as scheme co-ordinator, CCA said in a statement to the ASX on Monday.

But not everyone is happy about it.

NSW Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi described the move to put Coca-Cola Amatil in charge of the environmental scheme as “utterly stupid”.

“Big beverage companies like Coca-Cola have no interest in reducing litter or increasing recycling rates and will only work to sabotage and undermine the scheme,” she told Fairfax.

“The whole integrity of the container deposit scheme sits with the independence of the scheme co-ordinator. The Greens and other environment groups have consistently called for an independent third party to run the scheme.” 

CCA said the companies collectively produce or distribute more than three quarters of the cans and bottles that will be subject to the CDS. The drink container deposit scheme, which is expected to go live in NSW from December, aims to halve the number of bottles and cans thrown away in parks, beaches and waterways.

CCA said the NSW government has also announced TOMRA-Cleanaway as the network operator responsible for establishing and managing collection points across NSW, including reverse vending machines.