WARRRL (Western Australia Return Recycle Renew Limited) CEO Tim Cusack talks to Business News about the continued focus on increasing access and convenience through the ongoing expansion of Containers for Change.
Of the 1.45 billion 10-cent drink containers Western Australians buy every year, about 530 million of those head straight to landfill. Since Containers for Change launched in October 2020, more than two billion containers in Western Australia have been returned, recycled, and saved from potentially ending up in landfill.
Tim Cusack, CEO of Western Australia Return Recycle Renew Limited (WARRRL), the not-for-profit organisation created to establish and run Containers for Change, says container recovery has almost doubled in WA since the program launched less than three years ago.
“The recycling rate of 10-cent beverage containers in WA has soared from 32 per cent since Containers for Change launched to 63 per cent for the current financial year. The goal is to achieve an 85 per cent recycle rate,” he says.
Containers for Change has built an extensive refund point network across WA, with 270 refund points across the length and breadth of the state, as far north as the Kimberley and as far south as Esperance, operated by a diverse group of 77 refund point operators.
With a focus on growth on the official refund point network, 30 additional refund points are planned to roll out across the metro area in the coming twelve months. The focus is also firmly on extending other ways to prevent containers going to landfill in wider out-of-home settings.
“We’re looking to substantially increase the access to Containers for Change through various point of disposal options across the community so there’s that option when you’re out and about to put the containers somewhere where you’re guaranteed it’s going to be recycled,” Mr Cusack says.
Of the hundreds of millions of containers in WA heading to landfill every year, 73 percent of these are outside of the home in commercial business and public settings. There is a raft of plastic drink containers that are purchased and drunk on-the-go where there are little to no recycling options on hand.
“We know from all our data and analysis that of the 530 million containers that we’re not getting back, about 400 million of them are out-of-home, and of course all of those go to landfill,” Mr Cusack says.
Recent analysis shows around 80 per cent of drink containers disposed of in the home are recovered because of access to Containers for Change through at-home separation and collection and the use of yellow lid co-mingle bins at every home in Perth and the Peel region.
“Where Containers for Change is in easy reach, which it is at home, recovery rates are substantially higher. When you move out of home, where there’s not necessarily that arms reach solution, more effort is required,” Mr Cusack says.
‘Street Fight’, the current Containers for Change message in market, highlights the out-of-home waste challenge to get people to think about what they are doing with their 10-cent containers, such as water bottles and soft drinks, when they are out of home and in public settings.
“It’s a platform to have those conversations. It’s about drawing attention that we are at war with the general waste bin,” Mr Cusack says.
“We are aiming to spark a conversation in the workplace and while people are out and about and in local government areas where there is only a general waste bin. Surely, in 2023, we can do better than that with a focus in the community on recycling and sustainability and general environmental concerns.”
WARRRL is targeting the need for more recycling infrastructure in public spaces by continuing to engage with local governments to get more Containers for Change exchange points where people can access them.
“We have engaged with 29 individual councils who have embraced the Containers for Change devices over the past 12 months. There are 137 local governments in the area Containers for Change operates in throughout WA and we need a presence in every single one of them and so our objective is to inspire their participation,” Mr Cusack says.
As a result of Containers for Change, WA has seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of litter in the community, with the annual Keep Australia Beautiful Council National Litter Index showing a fall of container litter from 40 per cent to 4 per cent since the launch.
“We’ve had a really big impact on the amount of ambient litter, and we’ve got a fantastic recycling outcome including a circular economy where beverage suppliers across Australia and WA are turning recycled drink containers back into drink containers again," Mr Cusack says.
The Containers for Change model in WA doesn’t solely focus only on resource recovery and litter reduction, with a broader view of environmental and social impact across the community, involvement in the not-for-profit sector, and engaging in employment opportunities for disadvantaged Western Australians.
“We have a focus which is unique from all the other schemes which is around making sure it operates in a way that supports social enterprise and employment outcomes,” Mr Cusack says.
Containers for Change has created employment for over 800 people in WA, including close to 200 jobs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, long-term unemployed people, and people living with disabilities.
“We’ve got a very big involvement of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community as well through Aboriginal corporations, nine of which are refund point operators including all of the refund points in the Kimberley,” he says.
“There is no scheme in Australia with the diversity of refund point operators we have here in Western Australia. Those operators have built 270 refund points and there’s another 30 to come this year.”
Collecting 10 cents per container, Containers for Change provides an opportunity for community groups, sporting clubs and charities to raise much-needed funds by encouraging refund donations.
The program has seen millions of dollars donated to 5,000 community groups, schools, and charities across WA. “Over $8 million has been paid to those groups since we started, and it creates a new income stream for groups that are raising money for their various purposes which is a fantastic outcome,” Mr Cusack says.
Where containers are not recycled, there’s a missed opportunity to support not-for-profits who benefit from the refund. “About 45 per cent of our operators are not-for-profits, like the Scouts and Good Sammy Enterprises, so that’s a lost opportunity for those operators, and of course lost recycling.”
