Many want bigger bottle deposits

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33869, 14 June 1975, Page 3

Many want bigger bottle deposits

(From OLIVER RIDDELL) WELLINGTON, June 13. Strong calls for a substantial rise in the deposit on bottles have been received by the Commission for the Environment and the Department of Trade and Industry.

The commission received 70 submissions from the general public and industry after asking for comment on the recycling of beverage containers. Organised collection of cans was widely advocated, too. A joint feasibility report will be sent to the Government at the end of this month.

“Many of the submissions have called for the deposit on bottles to be raised, and it has been suggested that collection be organised into districts.” said Mr D. Moore, a spokesman for the commission, today. Hotel problem One objection to returning bottles to the point of sale as part of organised collection was that beer bottles were often sold from licensed premises, and this would prevent the participation of minors. “The police are very concerned about the incidence of violence involving glass bottles, and have asked hospital boards around New Zealand to report the num-; her of casualty admissions involving bottles,” he said. The police were known to advocate plastic-coated bottles. “There has also been some interest in having paper containers for milk, with waxed interiors such as milk-shake containers have. These are; used in Australia but, although theirs are made in New Zealand, they are not used in New Zealand." Can recycling Industry', including the, steel mill at Auckland, hadi shown interest in importing; equipment to separate the l steel and the tin in cans. Mr Moore said that 12£ per cent! of all the canning material imported by New' Zealand (about 4000 tons) was used in beverage cans — of a total of about 33,000 tons) imported. New Zealand imported flat steel plate with a tin covering, and made the cans.! It had been estimated that 17.000 tons of tin plate would be needed each year to run a de-tinning plant profitably, so the plant! would need to get back more than half of all tin cans used in New Zealand each year. There was also the possi-; bility of using aluminium cans, but the Bluff smelter did not produce aluminium plate suitable for cans, he; said. If the aluminium' scrap could be recovered it! could be re-used, and a plant in Auckland w'as already recycling small amounts. Main difficulties “Collection is the main; stumbling block for both; bottles and cans,” said Mr Moore.

“We have to know whether a larger deposit would work, or whether we should prohibit beverage containers which are expensive to collect. We have to work out how containers should be collected. “There are problems of cost of storage and of hygiene if we use the point of sale.” Mr Moore said. "Big

transport costs are involved] , if we sent tin cans to a' plant in Auckland or aluminium cans to a plant in Bluff.” Any re-cycling plant' would need to shred cans' rather than crush them, because crushing made it hard-, er to separate the elements; in a caustic soda bath, and this too would add to costs.