Drink Cover - money back for packaged drinks soon

Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 40
Paper Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2001
Byline: by Terry Ally

MILLIONS of drink containers which escape through a legal loophole and end up as litter in Barbados could begin bringing in valuable cash for environmentally conscious consumers this year.

The 1985 law which mandated that deposits be charged and redeemed on drink containers, but which does not apply to a wide variety of packaged drinks, has been described as antiquated and the loopholes are being closed.

"When the act came into being, the emphasis was on glass and plastic, but drinks now come in a multiplicity of containers," Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, Atheline Haynes, told the Daily Nation.

"In light of how the market has changed in terms of the products which are out there, we are reviewing the legislation in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Solid Waste Management Unit, since these are solid waste issues."

There is a deposit of 25 cents on glass bottles and 20 cents on plastic bottles, but not all plastic bottles were being accepted by supermarkets. Busta is one of those not being accepted because there is no local manufacturer to refund supermarkets if they accept empty bottles and this is one of the loopholes to be closed.

"This is disadvantaging local drink manufacturers," Haynes added. There are also soft drinks and beers which come in cans which are not covered under the Returnable Containers Act, as well as other drinks like Lucozade, Ribena, ³buddy packs² and one-litre UHT cartons in which juice and milk are sold, as well as the quarter-litre and one-litre cartons used by
Pine Hill Dairy.

Meanwhile, a senior officer in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said one aspect of the package-return regime which needed to be dealt with was that some supermarkets accepted empty containers, but refused to refund cash.