International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

have to be compared with the costs and benefits of the implementation of alternative
recycling approaches.
The Covec report referred to above reports that the likely cost of implementing a
deposit refund scheme in New Zealand (which has a similar population size to
Ireland), to increase recycling and reduce waste by approximately 45,000 tonnes,
would be between NZ$48 and NZ$90 million (approximately €22 million to €41
million at 13 th October 2008 exchange rates). To give an indication of the size of the
market for which this calculation was done, the base of materials production and
consumption is shown in Table 16-6.
Table 16-6: New Zealand Production, Consumption and Recycling (without deposit
refund scheme), 2006
Material
Material
Materials
Materials
Production
Production
(tonnes)
(tonnes)
Consumption
Consumption
(tonnes)
(tonnes)
Collection
Collection
(tonnes)
(tonnes)
Collection ollection as as % % of of
of
consumption
consumption
packaging
packaging
accord accord target
target
Aluminium 7,895 6,270 3,900 62% 65%
Glass 128,110 208,240 109,860 53% 55%
Paper 492,300 336,500 256,200 76% 70%
Plastics 136,079 156,359 34,891 22% 23%
Steel 44,765 21,340 12,245 57% 43%
Tota Total Tota Total
l 809,149 728,709 417,096 57%
Source: NZ Packaging Council
In terms of cost comparison with alternative collection routes, bearing in mind the
caveats previously mentioned, a 1998 study helps to indicate the relative costs of
different recycling systems. The authors found that the costs of collection, sorting and
recycling a 33cl aluminium can were (in US dollars): $0.0161(Germany), $0.0105
(Sweden) and $0.0345 (Switzerland). These costs related to Germany’s kerbside
recycling, Sweden’s deposit refund scheme and Switzerland’s bring system. However,
caution must be applied in comparing these estimates, as different market forces and
economic factors are at work in the three different countries. 364
The costs attached to redeeming the deposits impact retailers. Costs are in the form
of capital to purchase RVMs or space set aside for returned containers. ERM’s 2008
report for Defra reports that Germany’s 21,000 RVMs were installed at an average
cost of £11,000. 365 In some countries, help is given by the producers and importers,
either to encourage use of RVMs or compensate for the loss of retail space.
364 N. Tojo, T. Lindhqvist and G. Davis (2001) OECD Seminar on Extended Producer Responsibility,
EPR: Programme Implementation and Assessment, Seminar for the OECD, December 2001.
365 ERM (2008), Review of Packaging Deposit Systems for the UK, Report for DEFRA, December 2008,
accessed from http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=WR1203_7722_FRP.pdf
329
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes