Litter is an issue that concerns many Tasmanians and the Hodgman Government is committed to looking at all reasonable measures to help reduce litter rates and increase recycling of discarded materials.
I am pleased to confirm the Tasmanian Government has instructed the Environment Protection Authority to provide advice on the appropriateness of introducing a container deposit scheme in Tasmania, adopting a model that is consistent with that proposed for New South Wales.
A container deposit system can be a way of attaching a value to containers that would otherwise end up as litter or in landfills, as well as motivating people to view beverage containers as a recyclable resource.
I have stated in the past that the Tasmanian Government would look closely at the NSW model to see if it can be adapted for a small state like Tasmania, and with the details now available from NSW, this is the first step in seeing if a similar scheme could work here in a way that would be in the best interests of Tasmania.
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