The immediate future of the Return and Earn recycling scheme in Maitland is unclear, with the Environmental Protection Authority vague over when – or if – the region will get a paid reverse vending machine.
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Fairfax Media contacted the EPA last week asking if the Lower Hunter would get a paid machine after a ‘donation station’ vending machine was installed at Service NSW Green Hills.
The donation station is a smaller type of reverse vending machine that only delivers a donation to a charity, not a refund to the user.
Neither Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison or Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald had been informed of the installation, despite both making inquiries earlier that week into the progress of the scheme in the Lower Hunter.
The EPA announced in late January that Maitland would get a reverse vending machine in February – however it’s unclear whether the donation station is the promised installation.
When contacted by Fairfax Media to clarify whether the region would get a paid reverse vending machine this month, an EPA spokesperson only replied that “Maitland remains a priority for a reverse vending machine”.
The lack of clarity is a frustrating development for want-to-be users of the scheme in the Lower Hunter.
The Tudor Hotel and Tenambit Takeaway, who both signed up as over the counter collection points for the scheme, quit their participation after several weeks, citing issues with the pick up of deposited containers.
A vending machine at Kurri Golf Club was closed in January over noise complaints, with the closest reverse vending machine to Maitland currently located at Cessnock Woolworths.
Related content:
- Maitland gets ‘donation station’
- "Appoint an environment minister up to the job": Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison on the attack over Return and Earn
- Maitland to get a Return and Earn vending machine in February
- Hotel Tudor quits Return and Earn Scheme
- Heddon Greta return and earn at Kurri Golf Club closed
- Tenambit Takeaway pull plug on Return and Earn; cite “issues” with recycling program