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[NSW] 1.25 Litre Vanilla Coke (and Other 1.25 Litre Coke Varieties) $1.65 at Woolworths

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Before the NSW Government recycling scheme came in this wouldn't be a bargain - but it is now.

$1.65 for all 1.25 litre Coke varieties.

The NSW "Return and Earn" Recycling scheme is just another tax. It generates profits for both the state and Federal governments, plus the major drink makers, all at NSW residents expense.

Those of us living in NSW will know by now that the price of bottled soft drinks, water, beer and various other drinks has risen substantially in the last few months.

You will also know that you can recycle the bottles from these drinks for a refund of $0.10 per bottle. That $0.10 is supposedly the "deposit" you paid when you bought the drinks.

But dig into the facts a little deeper, and you'll find you are getting ripped off to the tune of at least $0.10 per bottle.

The facts are this:
The scheme, managed by a consortium of the largest drink makers in Australia (almost all foreign owned) charges the manufacturer $0.10 per bottle PLUS ~$0.04 per bottle "network administration fees" (and these fees will increase each year) - so in total ~$0.14 per bottle is charged to the manufacturer.

Of course the manufacturers pass on this additional cost into the selling costs of their drinks - so the wholesale cost of all recyclable drinks has risen by AT least $0.14 per bottle.

Then when the retailer gets the more expensive drinks, they add their margin - lets say 30% - so now it's $0.182 per bottle.

Then the Federal government charges 10% GST, so at the checkout you are paying AT LEAST $0.20 per bottle more.

If/when you recycle you get $0.10 back. So you lose at least $0.10 per bottle even when you recycle.

And what happens if you don't recycle?

Well either the local council collecting your rubbish, or the drink makers running the refund scheme, make money ($0.10/$0.04 or $0/$0.14 respectively) and you lose at least 20 cents.

The reality is you are paying a $0.20 or more tax per bottle/can, and getting a maximum $0.10 refund when you return the bottle.

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closed Comments

  • +1

    If you get that passionate about $0.10, you should look into child prostitution - you would become a world changer!

    • +6

      With a username of MichaelJackson1, this can really be interpreted the wrong way.

    • +2

      I have a pretty dark sense of humour and that one went right over my head… :\

  • +1

    Thanks need some cheap cleaning product. Great for the toilet and cleaning the kettle.

  • +1

    Nice to see people get passionate about stupid things.

    • +6

      Welcome to OzBargain

    • +2

      Nice to see some true Aussie attitude. Downvotes come.

  • +2

    A 30 pack of Coke has gone up $4, yet even if you returned every can you'd only get back $3 less expenses.

    Absolutel rort, I will no longer buy soft drinks.

    • +3

      Yes you will.

      • +2

        Nope, stopped buying them when the price went up, been drinking chilled water.

        Only Coke I'll have now is Maccas frozen for $1.

        • You will eventually once the novelty of going to McDonalds for a Coke has worn off.

        • +1

          @crc32:

          Nope.

    • +1

      Soda stream it mate… return used gas cans to JB for half the price, you get 60L of soft drink for ~$18

      • +1

        Yeah I'm considering that.

        • Just been googling that myself. It's certainly become much more of an attractive proposition now. even though im not a fan of the taste of SodaStream.

  • +5

    Good excuse to quit and feel better in the process.

  • +2

    Container-deposit schemes in Australia are like Universal Healthcare in the US - the only people who'd complain about it are those who've never experienced it.

    I'm originally from SA and it's been around forever, and you don't see people complaining. It's enough deposit for some needy people to collect recycling that you carelessly threw in the trash, and not enough that people really care about losing their 10c or 20c or whatever. That's why most people continue to use the council recycling.

    If the council makes money from the recycling it's going to go towards their waste management, it's not like they're having a party.

    In other words, it does the job it's supposed to. People need to be more responsible for their rubbish, whether it's going to the depot, or paying a miniscule "fee" for someone else to do it.

    • +1

      I am experiencing it right now and I am complaining - so you are talking rubbish.

      I am not sure about you, but I find a minimum impost of $0.10 per can/bottle - and more than $0.20 per can/bottle as a hell of a lot more than "miniscule".

      The $0.04 network fee is total robbery. The fact is the scheme gets $0.10 for every single bottle made - less than 50% will be recycled according to the State governments own figures (they estimate 44% over time) - so they are already making on average $0.10 before the admin fee on top….

      I am not familiar with the SA systems economics, but knowing NSW, our system will be more lucrative for the Government and the bottlers who run the scheme than the one in SA….

      • +1

        so you are talking rubbish

        No, you are talking rubbish, mattythecapybara is talking recycling.

      • My point was that it's an issue of change and some people will complain about change but no one will once it's been in place for a while. Obviously people will complain when it happens.

        Some of the other stuff about differences between the schemes is more concerning if they are being too picky about what they take, no one in SA really cares that people sometimes brings bottles over the border, it's not enough money for people to worry. I'm sure NSW will realise how dopey that is in time, and anyway eventually everyone will have a scheme, and they won't have any reason to try to track these things if there's no border-hopping and most of the pre-system bottles are already gone.

    • +1

      How many return sites are there in SA? There's only one in the whole of the Sydney CBD and that's an automatic machine at Martin place. If you work near Circular Quay, or World Square, how are you supposed to return them?
      By making it so hard to return your bottles and get a refund, the government has made it so its easier to just drop your bottles somewhere convenient, whether that's on the footpath, a garden bed etc. After all, I've paid 20c for someone to come around after me to clean them up, so I don't have to feel guilty like I would have if I'd littered before. I didn't litter before, but now the government's effectively given me permission to do so because I've paid a 20c tax for the privilege. I can't really see how this is supposed to reduce littering.

  • +3

    Sounds like the tax is effective if you will stop buying soft drink.

    • +3

      Pity it also applies to bottled water and beer.

      • why? there is no tax on tap water

  • Why is the NSW scheme so complicated and one sided?

    I'm an SA guy and we've had 5c deposit (now 10c) since I was a child. The only thing that happens here is we're charged 10c~ more a container than other states. Which makes sense as the aim is to get you to recycle to get that money back, not for you to make money.

    No admin cost, no government profit, no manufacturer profit, and you get 'free' drinks out of it.

    Saving the planet costs a bit of money. NSW just seem to have made a tax and played it off as environmental.

    • +2

      NSW just seem to have made a tax and played it off as environmental.

      That is NSW for you to a tee.

  • +2

    The NSW scheme clearly has problems
    Shouldn’t be managed by soft drink manufacturers.
    Needs way more deposit points, particularly user-friendly ones like reverse vending machines. Who wants to return a bag of empties to a café?
    More flexibility about what they will accept. This kid went and collected 8000 littered cans, which is supposedly the aim, to have less litter out there, and then he could only get refunds for 1750 of them. Doubt many will keep it up at that rate.

    If it was better implemented it would be a good thing. Less litter in the environment, and greater recycling rates would have good long term benefits. By doing such a half-assed job they run the risk of it not working as well as it does in SA or overseas, then they stop it and NSW have no chance of getting a better system started.

  • +2

    Big corps love green regulations (or should that be red tape): they get to green wash their product and squeeze extra margin, particularly when they practically write the legislation and manage the scheme in this case.

  • +2

    Container deposit schemes are a scam and I wish more people would realise. Good job GWH.

  • This price fairly regularly.
    Keep an eye out for Coke Plus Coffee on clearence now that they're doing Coke with raspberry.

  • You sound really into this. Just out of curiosity where you against the carbon tax?

    • I'd rather pollution controls on business in preference to a tax that allows heavy polluters to continue to pollute (at a cost)

      • Fair enough. Mans gotta take a stand somewhere

  • They should just make bigger containers.

  • I would return it if there was one near me in Katoomba that I knew of.

    I go through plastic bottles quite a lot and so does my roommate.. if we can get some money back for monthly trips I'm sure we would most certainly do it.

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