LOGAN councillor Phil Pidgeon says he’ll buy a new hat with the refunds he collects at the new cash for container vending machine which has opened for business at Crestmead’s Tomra Recycling Centre.
“With the new recycling scheme in place and 10 cents paid for every bottle, can or drink carton, I decided to give it a try with a couple of plastic drink bottles and a spent coke can,” he said.
“A whole 30 cents later I have the bug. If I can do it, anyone can. When you are finished depositing the goods a docket spits out with your credit and you can go to the front counter and cash it in or spend it at Woolies.”
Cr Pidgeon said not everyone was a fan of the scheme.
“If you’re getting 10 cents at the back end, they say someone’s adding 15 cents at the front end,” he said.
Cr Pidgeon said politics aside, it was hard to fault the scheme when he found the Rai Drive centre at Crestmead Industrial Estate packed with kids who’d brought in boxes and bags of bottles of cans to cash in.
“They were all there earning their pocket money,” he said.
“I’ve never seen the streets so tidy. I suppose they’ve all been out picking up whatever rubbish they can find.
“It reminds me of when I was a kid and I’d run through the neighbourhood collecting Coke bottles and take them down to the local pinball parlour to cash them in.”
The Queensland government launched its Containers for Change program on November 1 with about 40 of an eventual 300 or so depots and swap points in operation.
Patience has been urged as the scheme rolls out allowing individuals and charities to exchange empty cans, glass and plastic bottles for 10c an item.
Communities including the southern Gold Coast have complained they have been short changed with not a single depot operating by launch.
Crestmead is Logan’s first with the next to follow at Beenleigh, Bethania, Browns Plains, Eagleby, Greenbank, Logan Central, Loganholme and Meadowbrook. Schools that join the program include Kimberley Park State School, Rochedale South State School, Loganholme State School and Shailer Park High.
In the Scenic Rim, a depot is operating at Bromelton.
