Perth Recycling 2021 🍾 – Cash For Cans / Bottles Program In Perth

Perth Recycling: it is always nice to hear of progressive waste and recycling programs being introduced by state governments to help minimise costs for small businesses and boost environmental performance.

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Last 2020, the Western Australia Government has introduced cash for cans and bottles (i.e., what previously would have been processed as commingled recycling). This will follow the success of similar schemes in other states such as NSW and SA. This involves a reverse vending machine system where submission of certain drinks containers – receives a 10c credit by the State.

Note: The program had been originally scheduled to begin on 2nd July 2020 but has been long delayed due to Covid-19.  The latest proposed start date (as of 24 June 2020) was for 1 October 2020. 

Please check on the latest start date info (which is in flux due to Covid-19) here at https://www.containersforchange.com.au/

Note that the program has started and is well up and running at the time of updating this blog in March 2021.

Similar recycling schemes have been introduced in other states such as in South Australia and the Northern Territory. This has seen much higher recycling rates in these states and territories.

Waster provides low-cost waste and recycling services to small and medium Australian businesses. All our services are delivered on flexible 30-day agreements. So, you do not need to worry about long term contracts or rollover clauses.

You can check out your garbage disposal bin options and pricing for Perth recycling and general waste by pressing the blue button below:

Perth recycling: introduction of cash for bottles and cans

According to the Channel 9 news report, ” West Australians will once again be able to exchange their cans and bottles for loose change as the McGowan government asks for community input to shape its container deposit scheme.

“For every bottle and can returned to deposit sites, the scheme will refund 10 cents and is due to roll out in 2019.” Note – this has now been delayed to July 2020.

“Drinking containers make up 35.2 per cent of litter in WA compared to 10 per cent in South Australia, which has run a container deposit scheme for 40 years.

“The WA government estimates for every 10,000 tonnes of waste recycled, 9.2 full-time jobs are created compared to 2.8 jobs if the rubbish went to landfill, and says the scheme could bring up to 500 jobs.”

The scheme will cover a wide variety of bottle and drinks containers. According to the ABC, it will include:

Which containers will be eligible?

• Soft drink cans and bottles
• Bottled water
• Small flavoured milk drinks
• Beer, cider and mixed spirits drink cans and bottles
• Sports drinks
• Most containers between 150 millilitres and 3 litres.

“Premier Mark McGowan says they want to introduce the scheme in early 2019. They need to draft legislation and get it through Parliament first. It’ll be introduced all over the state.”

Thankfully, this program was implemented and is now fully up and running as of March 2021.

There are various different collection and drop off points for your containers which you can see on the Containers For Change website which indicates collection locations. Different refund points offer different refund options, including EFT, retail cash vouchers and cash – so you should check the website in advance of visiting. If you require payment using EFT, you need to sign up on the Government website.

The program website has a wealth of information and even some great recycling hacks!

Conclusion on Perth recycling initiatives

Perth recycling schemes are more important than ever in 2021 following the Covid nightmare and due to the ongoing issues caused by the international recycling market. Getting some money from recycling is also a great way for clubs and teams to save towards a sporting trip or getaway.

Businesses in Perth are thankfully finding out now that recycling is one of the most reliable ways to minimise their operating costs and help present green credentials to an ever more discerning market place, where customers are prepared to shop around.

See our other blogs on related topics such as waste management and waste collection Perth. For an insight on how much waste actually ends up in landfill, check out our post on general waste collection.

More on Perth recycling

If there is one thing that modern Australia is obsessed about – well, maybe two things when you include coffee has to be housing and building/renovating your home. From watching the Block on TV to dinner party conversation, homes, housing and building are almost 50 per cent of the conversation. As Waster is obsessed with recycling, we thought it would be a good idea to combine both topics and ask not just Perth businesses, but literally everyone else: can you build a home from recyclables?

As mentioned above, Waster is a real difference in the waste and recycling Perth market, as we provide our services on flexible 30-day agreements with no hidden fees or rollover clauses. Of course, if you have any questions, you can contact our friendly customer service team.

Could you actually build a home from recycled commodities?

In this part of the blog, we ask: could build a house from recyclable items? We use Perth as an example place to build these houses from recycled items as, quite honestly, it is a nice place! The answer (a bit of a spoiler) is probably yes, but it may not be the best house. However, Perth businesses could build a large portion of it from recycling items.

Citymetric has a great article detailing a number of items that can be used for construction. We do not cover all the ideas below and recommend you check out the article if you are interested.

A number of the items are already being used in various countries around the world and can be pretty easy to make:

Number one: newspaper wood

“This design comes from Norway, where over 1m tonnes of paper and cardboard are recycled every year. The wood is created by rolling up paper and solvent-free glue to create something not dissimilar to a log, then chopping it into usable planks. The wood can then be sealed so it’s waterproof and flame-retardant and used to build anything you would normally build with wood.”

Number two: bottle bricks

This is like an idea we covered yesterday for lighting using plastic bottles (see collecting rubbish).

“This proposal is a little different, as it relies on producing a consumer good specifically so it can later be used as a building material. Lots of companies now make bottles in cuboid or other tessellating shapes, to make them easier to transport.

“But the practice of doing so to create construction materials actually started with beer company Heineken in the 1960s – Alfred Henry Heineken, the owner of the brewery, visited a Caribbean island and was dismayed at both lack of shelter, and the number of discarded Heineken bottles scattered everywhere. So the company landed on a new, brick-shaped design for the bottle, shown in the images above. The bottleneck slots into the base of the next bottle, forming an interlocking line.”

For the other ideas, including Smog insulators, mushroom walls and wine cork panels, also check out this Citymetric article. See our informative blog on asbestos removal and disposal.