US/AU: Deposit schemes reduce drink containers in ocean by 40%

8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean each year. Researchers found that container deposits reduce the amount of beverage containers on the coasts of both the United States and Australia by 40%.
They compared coastline surveys in states with a container deposit scheme to those without. They measured the ratio of lids to containers from the same surveys. Lids are manufactured in equal proportion to containers, and arrive to the consumer on the containers, but do not attract a deposit in either country. They found a higher ratio of lids to containers in states with cashback incentives. An article about the research is published in Marine Policy (News Release CSIRO, 20 February 2018).
Click here for the news release.
Click here for an abstract of the published article.
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