As a scheme that aims to help the environment by recycling used containers, Return-and-Earn is itself creating more than a bit of pollution of the local environs.
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Published photographs of rubbish piled up near Dubbo’s Victoria Park reverse vending machine tell it all.
The rubbish includes recyclable bottles and boxes, which at times are overflowing from bins and trolleys at the site.
The problem has several causes. People use boxes and big plastic bags to carry their used containers to the vending machine and then discard them. Others dump bottles that the machine will not accept.
Next there is the issue that the machines are not always working.
And then there is the “biggie” – the recycling demand is way too high for Dubbo’s two Return-and-Earn installations. The second site is at Delroy Park.
Between them they have collected 2.7 million containers since the scheme began late last year. There were strong views back then the NSW Government was rushing the scheme into place.
Boosting the demand (and presumably the rubbish problem) is the fact that Dubbo’s two machines – and to a lesser degree the Wellington Return-and-Earn -- are servicing the wider Western region.
Environmentally conscious residents from towns out there are transporting their recyclable containers to the city.
Dubbo community members certainly have issues with Return-and-Earn, according to a Daily Liberal survey. From a total of 105 respondents, 94 per cent believe the city needs another reverse vending machine.
And 53 per cent said their experience with Return-and-Earn had been ‘negative’. Only 19 per cent were ‘positive’.
Respondents highlighted issues other than rubbish, particularly waiting times to use the machines.
Around two thirds said they waited 30-60 minutes or over an hour. The rest waited less than 30 minutes.
Some said people were forced to line up when only one terminal was working or machines were already full. They need to be emptied more often.
It is not as though payments for returns are huge. So, many of the return enthusiasts are likely to be doing it for the environment.
Given the government introduced the scheme for environmental reasons, it should make things easier for participants.
Let us have the third machine quickly.
