Aspley Special School is one of the 30 state schools that will pilot the newly launched Container Refund Scheme (CRS).
The Container Refund Scheme offers a ten cent refund on every eligible container. This includes containers made from glass, plastic, aluminium or liquid paperboard and can range in size from 150ml to 3L.
“This is a fantastic scheme and one that I would love to see school communities from across the state get behind,” Education Minister Grace Grace said.
Ms Grace also said that the government is providing a $1000,000 grant towards the $150,000 total cost for P&Cs Queensland‘s pilot program. The program seeks to find out the best ways for schools to get involved and maximise the benefits from the CRS.
Participating State Schools
Under the plan, participating schools will trial ways to collect containers within their school communities. Everyone associated with their school, including parents and carers, students and teachers can get involved in the project.
“P&Cs Qld will report back to the government by mid-2019 on the success of the pilot project and we hope to use these findings to encourage more schools to join the scheme,” said Ms Grace
Apart from Aspley Special School, the following state schools are also participating in the pilot program:
Cairns
- Balaclava State School
- White Rock State School
- Yorkeys Knob State School
Townsville
- Currajong State School
- Pimlico State High School
- Townsville Central State School
- Townsville Community Learning Centre
- Townsville South State School
- Woodstock State School
Toowoomba
- Harristown State High School
- Highfields State School
Brisbane Southside
- Chatswood Hills State School
- Kimberley Park State School
- Loganholme State School
- Mansfield State High School
- Mansfield State School
- Robertson State School
- Rochedale South State School
- Shailer Park State High School
Envirobank – Bag Drop Pilot
Brisbane Northside
- Albany Creek State School
- Aviation High
- Earnshaw State College
- Eatons Hill State School
- Mitchelton State Special School
- Nundah State School
- Wooloowin State School
Sunshine Coast
- Mountain Creek State High School
Gold Coast
- Bellevue Park State School
- Coombabah State School
Ms Grace is positive that most Queensland schools will benefit from this scheme. Currently, CRS aims to increase the approximate 40 per cent recycling rate Queensland has now to upwards of 80 per cent. Such an increase in the recycling rate was observed in other countries when financial incentives are offered to recycle containers.
P&Cs Queensland Container Refund Scheme Pilot Program
P&Cs Qld President Gayle Walters said they were very excited to be partnering with the State Government to get schools involved in the innovative scheme.
“We see the Container Refund Scheme pilot program as an ideal opportunity to establish on-site donation points in Queensland state schools and we will be working with Refund Point Operators on a sustainable and safe plan to maximise benefits flowing to these schools,” Ms Walters said.
“The scheme has the potential to provide invaluable education for our students on caring for their environment as well as providing a real boost to P&C funding.”
Read more about P&Cs Qld’s pilot program from their official CRS website.