Beverages Council CEO: CDS will penalise consumers and manufacturers

The Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) will penalise consumers and damage small and medium Australian manufacturers, the Australian Beverages Council CEO has said. At the ausdrinks 2012 conference, Geoff Parker urged all Australian Environment Ministers to reject a CDS for Victoria and the rest of Australia, claiming there is a better alternative on the table.

“The costs of setting up and running a deposit scheme are huge, and these will be passed on to consumers on top of the 10c deposit fee,” Parker said. “The net impact could be price rises of up to 20c per container, which would slug families an additional $400 annually for the average shopping basket.”

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) estimated a CDS would cost around $1.76 billion, Parker said, but the beverage industry has put forward a co-regulatory proposal that costs 28 times less and was found to deliver equal or better litter reduction and recycling outcomes to deposit schemes.

“The green activists pushing drink deposits always like to talk about multinational drink companies, but the reality is that a deposit scheme would hurt the whole sector, including many small and family run businesses,” said Parker. “It’s going to cost jobs.

“It’s well known that Australian manufacturers are doing it tough. The last thing they need is a feelgood idea that is effectively just another tax that further depresses demand.”

Other industry groups have also voiced their opposition to the CDS, but Clean Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan says it will reduce rubbish and increase recycling.