Cash “refunds” for bottles and cans with Plastic Free July
Cash “refunds” for bottles and cans kicks off Plastic Free July this Saturday in Wellington
Friday June
28th
Wellingtonians can make some pocket money this
weekend if they bring their plastic bottles in exchange for
cash “refunds” at a zero waste event this Saturday to
kick-off Plastic Free July.
The event, organised by
campaign group The Kiwi Bottle Drive and sponsored by
Wellington City Council aims to advocate for a bottle refund
scheme by giving out free 10c-20c per item for plastic
bottles, cans and other beverage containers.
With
thousands of dollars to give away, organiser Holly Dove says
she expects a good turn-out.
“We’re aiming to
collect and recycle more than 20,000 beverage containers on
Saturday.”
“It’s simple - people bring us in
bottles and cans they’ve collected, maybe from the beach
or by cleaning up their local park after Friday night, and
we give them out cash in exchange.”
Run out of
Aro Valley community centre from 11am-2pm this Saturday, The
Great Kiwi Bottle Drive event will see thousands of dollars
given away in 10c and 20c coins and will be a great
fundraising opportunity for community
groups.
“We’ll be giving out 20c refunds on
plastic beverage containers and 10c on everything
else.”
“We’re wanting to demonstrate how
awesome it would be if New Zealand had a bottle refund
scheme, whereby you get cash refunds on beverage
containers,” Dove says.
“It’s a system
countries like Australia and Canada have introduced to
increase recycling rates and solve litter - and it’s
working."
“While doubling our recycling rate and
cleaning up our streets, a bottle refund scheme means great
fundraising opportunities for community groups and schools -
it’s a win-win for people and planet,” she
says.
Dove delivered a petition calling for the
introduction of a bottle refund scheme to Parliament late
last year with a team of support, including Wellington’s
Mayor Justin Lester.
Mayor Justin Lester said the
Wellington council was in full-support of bottle deposits,
which were a “back to the future” solution for waste
minimisation.
"Bottle deposits are the next logical
step for New Zealand to take in terms of waste minimisation
and moving toward a zero waste economy," he
said.
If a scheme were to go ahead, it would see a
mandatory 10c-20c refund given on all beverage containers in
New Zealand, says Dove.
“There’s been a huge swell
of public support in the past few months, and we’re backed
by councils and many different organisations, so it’s
exciting to finally get a chance to educate kiwis on how a
bottle refund system would work - as well as showing kids
that recycling can be
fun.”
ends