Good things often come to those who wait.
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Valley residents can soon look forward to a 10 cent return on their empty containers – without having to drive all the way to Coffs for it.
At the Nambucca Shire Council meeting last Thursday, councillors unanimously voted to enter into an agreement with TOMRA (the State Government’s tender-winner) to jointly locate the Container Deposit Scheme’s reverse vending machine kiosks in Macksville and Nambucca Heads.
Prior to contacting council, TOMRA had already investigated locating the kiosks at either of the two Woolworths stores or the Nambucca Plaza, to no avail.
Council has since suggested a number of shire-owned or controlled sites that would be more suitable.
In Nambucca Heads, the Coronation Park carpark, Bellwood Park and Stuart Island were suggested.
While the Macksville Park carpark has been highlighted as the likeliest spot for that town.
FAQs
Jeremy Melder, representing TOMRA, attended the council meeting for a Q and A session.
Cr John Ainsworth raised his concerns about the kiosks which harked back to the days of bottle banks.
My memory goes back to when when we had bottle banks and they only accepted some bottles and not others – people used to leave the rejected ones all over the ground. Can you ensure this won’t happen this time?
Mr Melder replied that a cleaner would be on hand every day to clean around the vending machine areas.
“TOMRA’s been doing this since 1973 in Europe,” he said.
“And we know that each area has its own idiosyncrasies. This will always be a consultative process. If you say it needs to be cleaned twice a day then we’ll do that.
“And we pay for clean-up.”
Cr Janine Reed wanted to know if there were local charity options should locals wish to donate their 10 cent return.
“Yes, the individual organisation must fill out a nomination form via the EPA website, and those nominated will go through a selection process,” Mr Melder said.
“There will be five to choose from and the idea is to rotate organisations so that it’s fair for everyone.”
The machines do not refund cash directly back to users, instead they dispense vouchers or deposit the funds into a nominated PayPal account.
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By extension, Cr Hoban wanted to know if stores nominated on the refund vouchers would also include local businesses.
And Mr Melder affirmed that they would should they choose to participate in the scheme.
For answers to more FAQs, visit the Return and Earn website.