Waste not wasted in the South West

More than 12,000 containers were deposited at the Stanley Road Waste Management Facility on Thursday, marking the official opening of the Containers for Change deposit scheme.

As of last week, West Australians are able to cash in their eligible drink containers for a 10-cent refund at any of the more than 200 authorised Containers for Change refund points across the State.

Just a few minutes from Australind, the Stanley Road facility was selected by the State Government as major refund point.

“We’ve budgeted for about 30,000 containers a day,” Bunbury Harvey Regional Council chief executive Tony Battersby said.

“That’s going off a similar catchment area in Queensland where, on a busy day, they take about 100,000.”

Mr Battersby said the facility had hired 10 new staff for the deposit scheme.

“We want to make it a good experience for people who come through here,” he said.

“The best thing we’ve noticed is that people are visiting the trash and treasure store next door and spending their cash.”

Environment Minister Steven Dawson paid a visit to the facility last week and encouraged all South West residents to get involved.

“Community is at the heart of our Containers for Change scheme,” Mr Dawson said.

“It provides an exciting new opportunity for community groups, sporting clubs, charities and schools to fundraise for their important causes.”

Mr Dawson said there had been more than 1000 organisations register so far and was expecting that number to grow.