NORTH SNUB JUST RUBBISH

THE good news is Gold Coast residents will soon be able to do something meaningful for the environment – and get a bit of pocket money in the bargain.

The Container Refund Scheme will for the first time allow people to take their used bottles – glass or plastic – to a recycling drop-off.

They’ll receive 10c per container. That’s a nice little earner for schoolkids, charities and even clubs which can turn over hundreds of bottles each day.

Even better, we’ll be placing less pressure on landfill and reducing demand to produce yet more plastic and glass. Win, win, right?

Well, yes, but there’s one 22km long problem.

In its infinite wisdom, the government has signed off on the CRS starting with 31 depots on the Gold Coast, but with not one drop-off between Oxenford and Beenleigh.

This happens to be one of the fastest growing regions in Australia, taking in Coomera and Pimpama.

This omission would not be so galling if it wasn’t in the area that has already suffered government neglect across a range of services.

This paper has reported on a litany of controversies this year, including a lack of school crossings, inadequate police numbers, poor feeder roads to the already clogged M1 and poor town planning leading to a deficit in amenities such as parks and community centres.

The latter shortfall is itself the result of large numbers of people being shoehorned into an area state planning bureaucrats have deemed must rapidly grow.

So this is rubbish.

We need more bins. Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch has suggested this is a matter for the nonprofit operator of the scheme, CoEx.

But as the minister with oversight of environmental matters, the buck must stop with her.

Ms Enoch must go back to CoEx and fix this black hole before the November 1 deadline.