Greens call for refunds on drink containers

DB breweries bottle recylcing
The Green Party is calling for a buy-back policy and DB is going to recycle its bottles into man-made sand (Supplied)

The Green Party is calling for a buy-back policy from beverage companies on empty bottles.

It comes on the back of DB Breweries announcing it will recycle its bottles into man-made sand in a bid to reduce beach sand dredging.

The sand will be used in products including golf bunkers, pipe bedding and drainage for sports fields.

Marketing Director Sean O'Donnell says there's also plans to make a concrete that can be used industrially and believes it will have a big impact.

"Our beautiful beaches are being dredged for its precious sand, which is used in many products and almost every construction project."

The Green Party's waste spokesperson Denise Roche says it's a good idea, but it doesn't go far enough.

"What I would like to see is all beer companies and all beverage companies actually agreeing to put refunds on their drink containers which would then mean there was a whole funding system in place to recycle those bottles at the end of their lives."

Ms Roche says the smart thing to do is look at the resources used at the beginning of the product cycle and look at the packaging in the first place.

"I think it's a good start."

"Stopping the use of sand being dredged from beaches - that's good.

"But if they really want to make a big impact, what they need to do is put refunds on drink containers which would mean they'd get many more bottles coming through to make into sand."

Newshub.