Container Exchange (COEX) is the proud custodian of the Queensland Government’s Container Refund Scheme (CRS).

In November 2017 the State Government passed the Waste Reduction and Recycling Amendment Act 2017 to reduce container litter and increase recycling rates of the almost three billion eligible drink containers discarded each year in Queensland.

Container Exchange (COEX) is the organisation appointed to establish and operate the Containers for Change scheme, which commenced on 1 November 2018.

COEX is a not-for-profit organisation established by the beverage industry. It has a nine-member board which reports to the Minister for Environment on its operations and achievements.

More than 260 Container Refund Points have been established across the state to provide Queensland residents with the opportunity to exchange eligible drink containers and receive a 10-cent per container refund.

Mark O’Brien – Chairman

Mark O’Brien has spent 32 years in western Queensland in both private business and public service. Prior to that Mark worked as an accountant in the multinational corporate world. Mark’s experience includes eight years as Mayor of Murweh Shire Council during which he served six years a Queensland Local Government Grants Commissioner.

Having developed the concept of ‘cluster fencing’ he was appointed a Queensland Government Wild Dog Fence Commissioner and more recently a Qld Drought Commissioner. Mark’s business has focused mainly on logistics primarily in the rural and remote parts of the state. After helping set up the corporatisation of the Save the Bilby Fund as it’s inaugural Chairman, Mark then served 9 years as Chairman of the Natural Resource Management company, SWNRM.

Brenton (Alby) Taylor – Director

Alby Taylor has over 30 years of experience as a professionally-qualified business leader with proven ability to achieve exceptional results. Alby is the Acting Chairman of COEX and serves as the General Manager at the Australian Beverages Council. His achievements at the council and previous work at ANZ Stadium, Moorebank Sports Club and the National Rugby League demonstrate his capacity to realise organisational goals and generate results while nurturing business development and growth.

Alby has previously worked as a Director, Chief Executive and Company Secretary at numerous peak bodies including Council of Small Business of Australia, Sydney Olympic Park Business Association and Australian Gift and Homewares Association.

Jeff Maguire – Director

Jeff Maguire has more than 35 years of supply chain experience encompassing manufacturing and logistics in a variety of roles and functions, including line management, project management and strategic management roles. Jeff has been with Coca-Cola Amatil for 27 years and is leading its participation in Container Refund Schemes (CRS) across Australia.

Jeff’s global connections can tap into a comprehensive knowledge base of active CRS operations from around the world to assist with successful local implementation.

Keith Allan – Director

Keith Allan joined Coca-Cola Amatil in 1988 and now has more than 30 years’ experience in treasury and corporate finance. Keith’s background is in risk management with exposure to a wide range of banking and financial markets. A key facet of this experience has involved the development and maintenance of key relationships with stakeholders and establishing a dynamic environment of acquisitions and divestments throughout the Asia Pacific region as well as Central and Eastern Europe. Keith has held the role of Group Treasurer at Coca-Cola Amatil for the past eight years.

Richard Ballinger – Director

Richard Ballinger is a highly experienced lawyer and General Counsel who has worked with Fast-Moving Consumer Goods businesses both as General Counsel and in large private practice firms, as well as in management and on leadership teams. Richard is skilled in partnering business leaders and their functions and managing their issues, including regulatory and compliance, joint ventures, brand partnership agreements, customer and supply agreements, distribution arrangements, product liability and dispute resolution. Richard has previously sat as a Director on the Board of two joint venture companies.

Mark Powell – Director

Mark Powell is the National Sales Director for Lion Australia and held various regional sales positions in Adelaide and Brisbane before relocating to Sydney in 2008 as Lion’s Regional Sales Director. Prior to his 15 years at Lion, Mark spent eight years with Coca-Cola Amatil and eight years with PwC in Sydney and London.

Dominique Tim So – Director

Dominique Tim So is a Senior Lawyer for James Cook University, having previously worked in private practice as a General Counsel for an ASX-list company. Dominique has practised in Property, Corporate and Commercial Law. Dominique has acted on behalf of small to large businesses, high net work individuals, private and public companies, not-for-profit organisations and government corporations across a wide array of industries.

Dominique has held previous directorships with government-owned corporation Port of Townsville Limited and the statutory not-for-profit Townsville Hospital Foundation.

Andrew Clark – Director

Andrew Clark has more than 20 years’ experience providing assurance, financial management, consulting, governance and risk management services and has held a range of executive finance positions. Andrew is Partner with Assured Business providing enterprise resource planning and business transformation services with a focus on improving governance, risk and compliance.

Before leading a national consulting practice, Andrew was a Chief Financial Officer with Airservices Australia, providing financial strategic management for one of the world’s leading air traffic control and fire rescue providers during a period of industry and service delivery change.

Ken Noye – Chief Executive Officer

Ken Noye boasts more than 25 years’ specialist experience in sustainable growth, logistics and supply chain leadership and operations. Before becoming CEO at COEX, Ken worked in various executive management and leadership roles at Toll Holdings Limited for 13 years. Ken’s logistic and supply chain operations career continued at Mountain Industries as Chief Operating Officer; Kiah Consulting and Aurizon as Commercial Director and Supply Chain Executive Leader.

Aaron Rodman – General Manager – Finance & Commercial

Aaron Rodman is an experienced commercial and finance leader who has worked across Australia in several different roles and organisations. After starting his finance career as an accountant at Crowe Horwath Australasia, Aaron worked at one of the world’s leading accounting organisations Deloitte Australia as a Senior Analyst. In his time at Deloitte, Aaron progressed to the role of Project Accountant for the internationally-owned mining joint venture, Guinea Alumina Corporation. Before joining COEX, Aaron worked for Aurizon for eight years.

Jason Swemmer – General Manager – Audit, Risk and Compliance

Jason Swemmer has more than 20 years’ experience as a proven audit and risk professional across numerous functions, geographies and sectors. Jason began his career at PwC in South Africa and has since worked in leading companies including Deloitte, BDO and Racing Queensland. Jason also has previous experience working in the recycling industry at Cleanaway Waste Management Limited where he served as Head of Audit and Risk.

Glenda Viner –  General Manager – Corporate and Community Relations  

Glenda Viner has a strong background in media, communications and stakeholder engagement with more than 25 years’ experience in the field. Glenda has worked in a wide range of public and private sector roles including Queensland Health, South Bank Corporation, TransLink, and Arrow Energy. She has extensive experience building and sustaining an organisation’s social performance credentials through proactive stakeholder and community engagement.

Container Exchange is committed to managing all complaints in an accountable, transparent and timely
way. Complaints can be lodged by any member of the public or any other stakeholders. Please see below contact details if you wish to lodge a complaint.

Please see here to view COEX’s Complaints Handling Process.

For any enquiries, please contact COEX at enquiries@containerexchange.com.au or call 13 42 42.