Coca-Cola Amatil Australia has been dealt an embarrassing blow to its national credibility by the company's Corporate Affairs Director Alec Wagstaff.Despite the overwhelming success and community acceptance of the South Australian Container Deposit Legislation (CDL), Mr Wagstaff has highlighted Coca-Cola's anti-environment and anti-Australian stance with a boots and all attack on the system.
In today's Queensland Times in Ipswich Queensland, this corporate troglodyte is quoted as saying CDL is an outdated and expensive solution.
It has not been tried in Australia outside South Australia, so how can it be outdated? As for being expensive, the consumer pays an extra 10 cents at the point of purchase which is later fully refunded. What could be fairer than that?
Coca-Cola's Corporate Affairs intellectual giant goes onto say:
"It's a very complex system.
"We've got a terrific kerbside recovery that's hassle-free and convenient.
"The challenge is to increase our recycling rate."
Is this guy for real?
Seeing that you claim to be across this complex issue, how do you explain the data from the Total Environment Centre showing that the Australian national drink container recycling rate is about 40% while in South Australia it is as high as 80%. On the latest available annual figures, 420 million drink containers in South Australia were recycled out of a total of 540 million - the highest return rate of any state or territory in Australia.
And now a spokesman for Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has said container recycling is on the agenda for a future Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) meeting, comprising state and federal environment ministers in early 2009.
But the pace of change is quickening. Are you listening Mr Wagstaff? Family First senator Steve Fielding introduced a drink container recycling bill into the Senate in March of this year, proposing a system similar to South Australia's. Tasmania, Western Australia and Victoria all have draft legislation prepared.
Coca-Cola is proving itself to be anti-environment and anti-Australian on this issue.
At a time when Australia and the rest of the world are becoming environmentally-conscious, Alec Wagstaff has been let loose on the Australian public telling us that Coca-Cola's current second-rate recycling system - outside South Australia - is better than the high-successful model which has been operating in South Australia since 1977.
Coca-Cola is a multi-national conglomerate whose corporate greed outweighs its ability to join in with a new environmental initiative which would be good for Australia, good for the environment and would be a national model for the rest of the world.
Coca-Cola could do a lot worse than dumping its Corporate Affairs Director as its national spokesman and get someone in his place who is more in tune with our evolving environment and the aspirational hopes of millions of ordinary Australians.
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