Tasmania is one of the last few states and territories without such a scheme, well behind states such as South Australia who have been running a container deposit scheme for 40 years. 

This is surely a large part of the reason why they are the state with the greatest recovery and return rate and litter reduction of drink containers. 

South Australia has a 76.5 per cent return rate on their containers, and as a result only 2.2 per cent of litter is made up of drink containers.

In 2015-16 there were 582 million containers recovered for recycling. 

But it’s not only a win for the environment of South Australia, it also nets the community $58 million (in the year 2015-16). 

Admittedly, the population of South Australia is a little over three times the size of Tasmania’s population, 1.6 million compared to half a million, but a 2013 report found Tasmanian councils could save an annual $1.3 million a year if a container deposit scheme was adopted. 

A report commissioned by the Environmental Protection Authority in 2014 found the annual cost of a container deposit scheme would be about $10 million (before the benefits are accounted for), but it would reduce beverage container litter by an estimated 6,271 tonnes. 

That report also stated Tasmania would not produce enough drink containers to establish a viable domestic recycling industry. 

However, a Clean Up Australia report also found in the same year that discarded beverage containers are Tasmania’s most common litter item. 

Clean Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan said at the time that they made up about 30 per cent of the rubbish collected by volunteers, and had increased from the previous year. He also suggested a container deposit scheme could help reduce this. 

It is also worth taking into account the flow-on effects littering and pollution can have on the clean, green Tasmanian brand. 

Tourism is becoming a key player in the Tasmanian economy and no-one likes to see the state’s pristine natural places befouled with empty plastic bottles. 

If the numbers stack up, and a viable scheme can be found then surely it’s a no-brainer.