Keep on Recycling

The 24-hour news stream thrives on sensationalist content but rarely reports the good stuff. Take, for instance, the recent reports of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Queensland’s Container Refund Scheme. The media got hold of the allegations against Coex, the not-for-profit organisation dominated by Lion Brewing and Coca Cola who were supposed to administer the scheme in an equitable and impartial manner. The allegations of market manipulation, bullying and inappropriate behaviour are, of course, serious and warrant further investigation, but the success of the scheme to date has been lost in favour of the juicier aspects of the report that the media has seized upon. Before we had a container refund scheme, the return rate of eligible containers in Queensland was around 18%. The scheme was introduced in 2018 and within 7 years the return rate soared to just over 67%. The goal of the scheme as set by Coex is to see 85% of eligible containers returned, a figure currently not achieved by any Australian container return scheme (but common in Europe).

So, how do we get there? GBSAN made a submission to the Inquiry back in April 2025 to support the idea of shifting the 10c to a 20c return per eligible container to incentivise the return of more containers. And it seems that we were not alone. Of the 119 submissions made to the Parliamentary Inquiry, 42 of them suggested this increase, leading to a recommendation that the Productivity Commission consider the issue.

GBSAN also suggested that more container refund bins be placed in convenient locations around town, such as in parks, along the main street and at all schools and sporting clubs (where they are not already) to capture that last few percentage points and increase the eligible container refund rate towards 85%. The message is the same as it has always been: KEEP RETURNING YOUR ELIGIBLE CONTAINERS, it’s making a difference.

You can donate your 10c per container to GBSAN by using our number: C10683974.

Note: the scheme now allows for glass wine and spirit bottles to be included in the Containers for Change scheme (this has changed since the graphic below was created).

Glass wine and spirit bottles between 150mL and 3L are now eligible for a 10-cent refund through the Containers for Change scheme in Queensland.