The Derwent Valley’s Tidy Towns group is an active community organisation working hard to keep litter out of our unique environment.
With beverage containers making up almost half of Tasmania’s litter by volume, they’re now going straight to the source to address the problem – turning their attention toward local businesses and organisations that sell takeaway drinks.
Derwent Valley Tidy Towns secretary Tim Morris says that in their first month the group has diverted almost 8 cubic meters of refundable and recyclable containers from landfill. This has saved local businesses significant waste disposal costs.
The group is providing 240 litre bins to help local business operators prevent eligible drinks containers from becoming litter in the environment. The group then collects the bins and returns the containers to their local refund point, with all funds raised going toward their clean-up and graffiti removal efforts across the Derwent Valley.
“We will talk to all local businesses that have refundable containers about how we can work with them to reduce their volumes going to landfill and we will provide a tailor-made solution to any business that we provide our collection service.”
Kerbside recycling is only available fortnightly in New Norfolk, so the Recycle Rewards refund point at Woolworths New Norfolk is a convenient addition to Derwent Valley’s waste management. Locals can collect eligible drink containers and receive a 10c refund for each eligible drink container they return, which they can keep for themselves or donate to a worthy cause, such as Derwent Valley Tidy Towns’ Business Awareness Raising Campaign. The group has so far raised more than $550 in 40 days and are well on their way to achieving their $4000 goal.
Volunteer Ian Lacey says the group has been collecting and recycling cans for years as part of their fundraising efforts. “We used to get between 40c and $1.60 per kilo. At about 60 cans per kilo, we now make six times that. Plus we can return more types of containers too. Incentivised recycling works: the number of cans and bottles on our roads has decreased since Recycle Rewards began.”
The clean streams of recycling created by Recycle Rewards also helps build Australia’s circular economy – reducing our reliance on virgin raw materials and fossil fuels and helping keep our beautiful state in a beautiful state.
Tasmanians have continued to embrace Recycle Rewards, returning more than eight million eligible containers since the container refund scheme launched on 1 May.
The state’s top refund points are spread right across the state. Devonport in the northwest is the state’s busiest site, followed by Claremont, Bridgewater and Mowbray. More than 365,000 containers have been returned in New Norfolk since Recycle Rewards began on 1 May.
Aluminium continues to be the top material returned, accounting for approximately 65% of returns. Plastics made up about 20%, glass 13% and liquid paperboard carton about 2%.
Visit recyclerewards.com.au for more information about Recycle Rewards, including container eligibility, refund point locations, signing up as a Donation Partner and how to make the most out of your fundraising effort.