Published on Monday, 4 October 2021 at 12:07:00 PM
The Shire of East Pilbara would like to thank the community for their whole-hearted adoption of the Containers for Change program, which has resulted in more than $183,000 back to the community.
The program celebrated its first anniversary on 1 October, 2021.
In the first year, more than 1.83 million containers were refunded at the Newman container deposit point at the Newman Waste Management Facility.
Shire President Anthony Middleton said this was an amazing result for the East Pilbara community.
“The community has fully embraced the program and not only is it helping the environment, it’s putting money back in people’s pockets,” he said.
“By diverting landfill, we are reducing the negative impact waste puts on the long-tern health of the environment.
“I challenge our community members to keep up the good work. Maybe we can reach the two million container milestone by the end of the year.”
During the first year of operation, the busiest week for the program was 14-21 December, 2021, when 61,337 containers were counted.
In the first year, within the $183,000 that went back to the community, more than $17,000 was paid back to local community groups and charities.
Aluminum cans made up 46.8% of the containers returned at the Newman deposit point.
A total of 765 million containers were returned as part of the program across Western Australia during the first year.
Fact File
- From the $183,000 refunded through Containers to Change, the total paid by Scheme ID is $180,000, and the other $3000 in cash.
- Refunds were provided to 698 different customers.
- The average number of containers counted per week was about 40,000.
- Total containers refunded by type:
- Aluminium cans: 859,377
- Glass bottles: 466,840
- Plastic bottles: 488,883
- Steel cans: 506
- Other: 192
- Read article about The Shire of East Pilbara reached the 1M milestone in August 2021, five months ahead of schedule.
- Find more information about Containers for Change here.
- State Government’s media release about the Containers for Change one-year anniversary.
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