Container deposit scheme
Nick STAIKOS (Bentleigh) (17:11): (572) My adjournment matter this evening is for the attention of the Minister for Environment and concerns Victoria’s container deposit scheme. The action that I seek from the minister is that he ensures that further drop-off locations are added to my electorate. The CDS started in November, and it is fair to say that since that time the Victorian community has embraced it. As at the middle of February more than 220 million containers had already been recycled through the container deposit scheme. The CDS is helping to build a thriving circular economy, and I note that the minister recently officially opened Visy’s upgraded glass-recycling facility in Laverton, which will process up to 200,000 tonnes of glass each year, including glass that is recycled through the CDS. So that just gives a window into what is possible because of this initiative of our government. It is all part of our government’s aim of diverting 80 per cent of waste from landfill, and there are already a number of useful drop-off locations in my electorate. One is at Waves Leisure Centre. The other and newest one is over at Southland shopping centre. But I note that we are still in the middle of the rollout of the CDS, and I ask that the minister ensures that there are further drop-off locations in the Bentleigh electorate – perhaps even a depot, which we do not have a moment.