Letter to the Editor: Thursday November 17 2016

Time for a refund

Our Northland roadsides are filled with drink containers thrown from cars.

If you aren't aware of the size of the problem, just cycle out of town and you'll soon see what I mean!

One day on my early morning walk along the beach and up the Te Haumi hill in Paihia this week, in one 500m stretch I picked up eight glass bottles, seven cans and 11 plastic bottles from the side of the road.

If I hadn't picked them up, they'd have been swept into the sea in the next heavy rain, littering our beautiful moana with yet more plastic.

There were too many to carry home, so I put them in the roadside bins along the way. It's better than polluting the ocean, but they'll just add to the mountains of waste being transported at ratepayer expense to landfills.

So why don't we protect our local environment and at the same time provide local kids, groups and others a chance for fundraising? By 2018, 10c deposits on cans and glass and plastic bottles will be law in all Australian states so why is NZ lagging behind?

Local Governments agree it's a good idea, but our National Government ignores the problem.

For the sake of our beautiful Northland land and sea environment, let's work together as responsible Northlanders who care for our environment and demand our government makes drink container refunds a priority under the 2008 Waste Minimisation Act.

That's all it will take. As individuals and as businesses, together we can do it!

J BANFIELD
Paihia