Monitoring the impacts of the NSW Container Deposit Scheme
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The NSW container deposit scheme (CDS), called ‘return and earn’ started providing refunds for containers on 1 December 2017. The NSW scheme operates by providing a 10-cent refund to consumers who return an eligible container to a collection depot.
The CDS covers most beverage containers between 150 millilitres and 3 litres that are sold in NSW. IPART have been asked by the NSW Government to examine the impact of the scheme. IPART’s draft terms of reference have been publicly released for consultation, and state that IPART is to monitor:
the effect of the Container Deposit Scheme on prices of beverages supplied in a container
the performance and conduct of suppliers, and
any other market impacts on consumers that arise from the commencement of the Scheme, for the period from 1 November 2017 to 1 December 2018 (monitoring period).
IPART has asked the CIE to provide advice to inform how IPART should monitor the impacts of the NSW container deposit scheme (CDS). This includes:
providing an overview of the NSW beverage sector
providing an understanding of the CDS and how it would be expected to impact on the market for beverages
identifying the rationale for price (or other) monitoring and what this means for the key types of data to collect, and
identifying possible data sources.
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