Radio interview with Prof White about container deposit legislation

Poole says if a proposal from the Greens goes ahead, people might be able to turn bottles and cans into money. She says Cate Faehrmann, NSW Greens MP is organising a bill and is going to introduce it to the NSW Upper House today to establish a deposit scheme for drink containers based on the one currently operating in SA. She says the legislation is going to be introduced to the Lower House by Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, NSW MP, and if it passes, consumers will be able to get a ten cent for each container deposited through the scheme. Professor Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures joins the show. White talks about the scheme in SA, saying its been running since 1978, and says it has been extraordinarily successful, saying there's been a recovery rate of 85% compared to an average of about 45% in other states. White says it was going to be introduced in NSW shortly after that, but the beverage and packaging industry were quite a strong influence on government at the time, and managed to stall efforts to introduce it. White says there is massive support for the proposal, and says they did a survey as part of an independent review for the Minister for the Environment in 2000, and well over 75% of the community are in favour of it. He remarks in SA there is over 95% support.