Container deposit legislation
South Australia introduced its container deposit legislation in 1977 and to this day, it continues to be a highly successful environmental program aimed at litter reduction and resource recovery. South Australia leads the country in the recovery, recycling and litter reduction of beverage containers with a current overall return rate of 79.46% (Figure 4). With the refund scheme, beverage containers make up only 2.2% of litter in South Australia.
The introduction of a refund increase to 10 cents in September 2008 continues to be a catalyst for increased return rates. Table 1 shows the return rates for the various container types for 2013–14 and prior to the 10-cent refund increase.
The EPA continues to work with its counterpart in the Northern Territory to align the respective container deposit schemes with regard to the types of beverages available for a refund. The South Australian Government supported the Northern Territory in gaining a permanent exemption from the Mutual Recognition Act 1992 on 7 August 2013.
With regard to a potential national container deposit scheme (CDS), the now disbanded national Ministerial Standing Council for Environment and Water agreed to develop a Decision Regulation Impact Statement (DRIS) on 24 August 2012 to assess potential options for increasing the recovery of, and decreasing litter from, packaging materials. These options include a costbenefit analysis of a national CDS. The DRIS has now been approved by the Office of Best Practice Regulation, and was considered by Australian environment ministers at their meeting on 29 April 2014. A decision on how to progress has not yet been made. South Australia has been actively involved in each stage of the development of the DRIS, and remains supportive of a national container deposit scheme.
Figure 4—Container deposit legislation annual return rates
Table 1—Container deposit return rates 2013–14 and prior to the 10-cent refund increase
| Container type | Return rates 2013–14 | Prior to refund increase |
| Glass | 86.3 | 78.5 |
| Aluminium | 84.3 | 77.3 |
| Polyethylene terephthalate | 70.5 | 63.6 |
| High-density polyethylene | 56.4 | 49.2 |
| Liquid paperboard cartons | 61.9 | 35.4 |
Plastic bags legislation
Retail compliance and consumer acceptance of the plastic bag ban remains high, although there continues to be instances of non-compliance at events with a strong contingent of interstatebased transient traders. The EPA, which administers the Plastic Shopping Bags (Waste Avoidance) Act 2008, did not issue any expiation notices during the past financial year. Table 2 presents relevant compliance statistics.
Several other jurisdictions have enacted similar legislation to the South Australian model. The Northern Territory incorporated its plastic bag legislation into the Environment Protection (Beverage Containers and Plastic Bags) Act 2011, with the ban commencing on 1 September 2012. The Australian Capital Territory’s ban commenced on 1 November 2011.
The most recent jurisdiction to introduce a ban on lightweight shopping bags is Tasmania, whose ban commenced on 1 November 2013.
Table 2—Plastic bag compliance
| Plastic bag compliance issues | 2012–13 | 2013–14 |
| Inspections (total) | 122 | 102 |
| Number of failed inspections | 16 | 9 |
| Written ‘cautions/warnings’ issued | 14 | 9 |
| Expiation notices issued | 0 | 0 |
Heightened awareness of ban on plastic bags at the show
The EPA visits the Royal Adelaide Show before it opens each year to speak with exhibitors about the plastic bag ban, and to inform organisers and exhibitors of their legislative obligations.
Now in its 5th year, the legislation bans lightweight polyethylene plastic bags with handles, unless they are 35 microns or greater in thickness or comply with the Australian Standard for compostability.
Most exhibitors were using paper bags or compliant plastic bags this year, with inspections conducted throughout the duration of the show.