How is the containers refund NSW (Return and Earn Scheme) going at your place?

jmmjbb on 03/12/2017 - 05:13

From the day before yesterday(1st Dec), Return and Earn Scheme is launched in NSW formally. I relocated from Adelaide to Sydney. I have the experiences of selling bottles when I was in Adelaide. In Adelaide there are dedicated depots and dedicated staff who operate this scheme. I tried todays. First, find the locations of the depots online at websit http://www.returnandearn.org.au/ I find two sites around Lane Cove, one is The About Life that's close to the lane cove shopping centre, one is the cafe 652 on Mowbray Rd North. In accordance with the policies indicated on the http://www.returnandearn.org.au/, I can get the refund in cash at over-the-counter collection points. BUT, About Life manager told me I CANNOT get cash, just can use the refund to buy the stuff in store, so they don't pay the extra part if the value of the refund is more than the value of the goods I wanna buy in store. At Cafe 652, the boss told me she even has not received the recycle bin for this Scheme, she couldn't do anything at this stage. No good experience… Feel The government has no intentions to implement this scheme. And according to my experience in Adelaide, the depots will meet more problems later. In Adelaide, many drivers adapt the trailers to load the containers for sell, the depots in NSW at least around Lane Cove are not spacious enough.

General Discussion

Related Stores

returnandearn.org.au
returnandearn.org.au

Comments

  • whooah1979 on 03/12/2017 - 07:07
    +5

    NSW(Return and Earn Scheme)

    this is a sham. the only ones that are benefiting from this is the businesses that control the prices.

    consumers pay 15% more based on the example from the link for a measly $0.10 refund (exc costs for cleaning, storage, transporting, labour, etc).
    https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/sustainability/r…

    As well as the 10¢ initiative refund, an initiative admin fee has been included in the price increase. This admin fee covers the cost of operating and administering the initiative.

    • fantombloo on 03/12/2017 - 12:29

      Anyone know who holds the 10c deposit until it's claimed? And who decides the admin fees and who do they go to?

  • jnewau on 03/12/2017 - 07:54
    +2

    In Newcastle, there are currently a grand total of 2 centres I can see on the map, to service a population (counting Lake Macquarie) of 550 000 people

    Prices have already gone up (my local Coles had notices up) yet there is no simple way to claim the money back.

    All this stupid scheme does is punish those who have already been recycling for years. Much like other NSW Liberals policies, (like the toll credit for motorists) it seems a thinly veiled way to hand money to private interests, in this case recycling operators who will most likely claim all the refunds from normal recycling bins

    What person working normal hours is going to have time to collect these cans (uncrushed and clean, which I believe is much stricter than the SA scheme), store them, and find a centre to claim a miserable refund?

    • whooah1979 on 03/12/2017 - 08:04
      +3

      What person working normal hours is going to have time to collect these cans

      a $0.10 per container refund is an illusion. a more reasonable return would be closer to zero after one factor in all the resources and costs required to return the containers.

      • jnewau on 03/12/2017 - 08:10
        +2

        Indeed, I certainly have better things to do after a day at work to find somewhere that I can return them for a few bucks after having stored a bag of containers for who knows how long.

  • nubzy on 03/12/2017 - 08:48
    +4

    This is absolute BS. Price of beer has gone up $4 a case. We recycle anyway and now will have to drive to one of these depots and waste time to collect the refund. Ridiculous..

    • Scab on 03/12/2017 - 10:34

      Yeah this sucks, a 30 pack carton of Coke has gone up $4.

      Even if you saved every can you would only get back $3, less the time and expense to collect and deliver them.

  • PJC on 03/12/2017 - 08:55
    +1

    30 minutes drive to our nearest collection point. Our LGA and the neighbouring LGA have no hard rubbish collection, so we annually receive 4 vouchers to take that to the Council tip, where there is of course no Return & Earn collection point.

  • [Deactivated] on 03/12/2017 - 09:15
    +5

    No collection points near me in Point Piper either.

    • Scab on 03/12/2017 - 10:35
      +2

      There is, you can drop them off at Malcolm's Learn and Earn.

      • Savas on 03/12/2017 - 13:48
        +1

        is that still going? I forgot to hand my tickets to the school.

  • cheapisgood on 03/12/2017 - 15:08

    So glad I do not live in NSW. This scheme is pretty stupid.

    The only people benefiting from this is the government cause they get the 10c per bottle if the customer doesn't redeem it and also cause of the environment fees that are charged to the businesses for each product they have.

    • mattythecapybara on 04/12/2017 - 20:22
      +2

      These schemes are actually of great benefit to the homeless, and perhaps some unemployed, many of whom will clean the recycling out of rubbish bins or discarded on the ground for the money.

      It's not the nicest job, to be sure, but (a) they don't have to answer to anyone (b) they don't have to apply to anyone and (c) they can work as they please. They get extra money, do a service to the community, and recycling rates do skyrocket as a result.

      In reality once you put a monetary value on the bottles, not that many actually don't get recycled, so the government doesn't stand to get much at all. In fact, they'd probably get more from reduced cleanup costs.

  • ensanguined on 05/12/2017 - 21:25
    +1

    Councils cheering, drink companies cheering, Government cheering, Woolies and Coles cheering, Neverfail cheering…everyone cheering except the actual consumers, most of which will never return the bottles and so will just be paying more for no reason. Yay!

  • mysterytal on 05/12/2017 - 21:29
    +1

    It's not worth my time or money saving the bottles up loading them into in taxi/Uber (I do not own a car) then taking them to a collection point then getting the bus back home. So…they'll be going in the bin (recycling bin) where they've always gone.

  • neil aus on 06/12/2017 - 20:43

    I returned a plastic and a glass bottle to the return location in Kellyville, NSW, which is outside Woolworths, in the car park. Worked well, got vouchers for Woolworths printed quickly.

    There was a promotions girl answering questions and handing out canvas bags for people who used the machine.

    If you register for the app, and login to PayPal, the refunds can go straight to your PayPal with no fee. Just scan your phone at the machine. Otherwise, it's paper vouchers with 3 years expiry for Woolworths, or choose a charity to donate to.

    The machine looks quite industrial, hopefully it has a good maintenance contract, to keep it working.

    More bottles worked than I thought, some up to 3 litres! Basically, any bottle that specifies 10 cent refund in SA/NT.

  • luffyex2010 on 08/12/2017 - 12:45

    mine depot is….just a few hundred meters away. Thought I could bag $50 bucks a month just to sort the edible recycle waste items as I have 2 recycle bins anyway.

    Lets see if it works….going to start sorting today onward.

    If I could get $600 a year….. I think I might get my neighbours to donate their eligible items to my bins too lmao.

    • neil aus on 17/01/2018 - 18:22

      How are you going?

      • luffyex2010 on 17/01/2018 - 18:41

        Gave up…..
        1st attempt - they said they were busy (car wash shop) and asked me to come on boxing day….
        2nd attempt - closed
        3rd attempt - drove halfway but made a u-turn and threw the bottles (about 50) into my recycle bin.

  • jmmjbb on 12/12/2017 - 06:52

    Tried last week, the mowbray depot has worked. But they do not accept the squashed bottles and tins?! The boss told me that is government's rule. Unbelievable policy! In Adelaide, the depot even recommend me to compress the tins and bottles. That is to save the room for me and save the room for depot as well. If so I can carry more containers. And the compressing completely doesn't interfere any recycle process（The SA depots have operated like that for at least over 10 years）. This government's policy limits the real amount of contains that the civilian can refund. But they have charged the full tax/fee from the beverage producers. This policy is clearly unreasonable.

    • neil aus on 17/01/2018 - 18:22

      The government allowed coca cola to run the system. Hope that makes things clearer.

  • Turd on 18/12/2017 - 17:04

    Return 100,000 bottles and gain 10k!!!

  • Yabadabadoo on 19/01/2018 - 14:24
    +1

    Just another liberal government stealing form the tax payer to corporations richer !

    I feel like complaining to ACCC for false advertising. All I see is "EARN" 10c but if you pay 15c extra and after paying for petrol/time get 10c back where is the earn part ?

    No way this is better for the environment ! Most people have always disposed of the bottles in the recycling bins at home and those that were are every unlikely to care about getting 10c back after the effort required to return them.

    And for bottles used outside I cant see anyone caring around there empty bottle all day to get 10c back, they will dispose of them in the same way they did before the scheme.

    As for homeless collecting them, well I doubt it. They still need to take them somewhere to get a refund and how many can you carry to make the cost of getting to that place worth while ? And even if they did then the government should just pay homeless to collect rubbish off the streets/beach's. That would do a lot more for a lot less than this is costing us !!

  • Macaron Mama on 21/01/2018 - 14:20

    My dad went to a collection point only to be told that they do not have the permit yet to start accepting collections…then why is the business listed on the website?

    I went to a place near my work this week that was listed as a collection point on the website and guess what? they have never heard of Return and Earn. I emailed Return and Earn to take that business off the site.

    Shambles.

  • jmmjbb on 21/01/2018 - 20:28

    I am OP. Through this first one month, honestly speaking it is really bad experience! I have got several complaints to raise:
    I live near the suburb Lane Cove.
    One is "About Life Lane Cove, 62 Burns Bay Rd,Lane Cove". In Return and Refund official website, it shows the ABOUT LIFE is a "Over-the-counter collection points". It is supposed to refund the containers IN CASH. But the store manager refused to pay me in cash and just allowed to deduct the purchasing in store! But the stock in this store is much more expensive than the others(coles, woolworths), I would not like to purchase anything in that store. The point is not this. They should pay in cash according to the rules.

    The other case, "Village Convenience", the manager just would like to pay 9cents for one container!

    I would raise the third case. But it has been shut for the relevant business."Café 652.652 Mowbray Rd,North, NSW, 2066". Yesterday afternoon the boss of there just told me he has quit some days ago,bad business. But its name still exists on the Return and Refund website at the moment I am posting.

    What is wrong with these points. This policy is just fulfilled only more than one month. Why there have been so many weird circumstancees happened？ Why they can change the policy without permission and with impunity? Not any department or division watch them?

    • fusion17 on 31/01/2018 - 09:45

      because they never really implemented this to make things more environmentally friendly. they know very well the profits will increase substantially since most cannot do this.

      I'm not even going to bother recycling anymore as this scheme basically tells me that the current system doesnt work??!

  • [Deactivated] on 15/05/2018 - 14:25
    +1

    Just did my first - and last Container Deposit!

    Our local Recycle and Recoup collection point said they could only do 50 max - but the website says they do 100.
    Seems a waste of a trip just for 50 - not sure who's got it wrong (shopkeeper not wanting extra work or government website).

    Also they refused 4 "ACTIVE" items from the approved list which you can check here - https://cds.epa.nsw.gov.au/CDSContainerSearchPage

    Return and Earn - not sure what you actually earn. Vendors/makes made 15c per bottle and you recoup only 10 - minus time and travel costs to go to the collection point. Also how some places actually got approved to become collection points is beyond comprehension (ie. like local computer repair places).

    I guess this "sugar tax" in disguise has worked - we've now stopped purchase of all beverages that are part of the Container Deposite scam.

    • PJC on 15/05/2018 - 14:46

      Just one Return & Lose point in the entire Cessnock LGA and I am assured there are still none whatsoever in Maitland LGA. Last week I witnessed a lady with several large garbage bags full of bottles pay a taxi driver $19. I suspect she broke even.

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