On 28 April 2026, COEX Interim CEO Trevor Evans and Executive General Manager of Stakeholder and Communications Joe Fitzgerald appeared before the Inquiry into the Waste Reduction and Recycling (Strengthening the Container Refund Scheme) Amendment Bill 2026. This is Mr Evans’s opening statement:
Thank you, Chair and thank you to the committee, for the opportunity to appear here today.
At the outset, I want to reiterate COEX’s position that it is supportive of the recommendations in the committee’s report.
As the Department noted in their comments to you a few weeks ago, what matters now is the detail in terms of how some of your recommendations are proposed to be implemented.
News at hand: last week – Tuesday, in fact it was – we celebrated the moment when the 12 billionth container was returned and recycled through Containers for Change since its inception.
That was the fastest billion yet, achieved in just 175 days.
We are now close to the point where every minute of every day 4,000 containers are being returned and recycled.
That is 4,000 that might otherwise have gone to landfill or, even worse, out into the environment and into the marine environment.
That is $400 of refunds that are going back into the pockets of Queenslanders or, indeed, to support charitable and social enterprise outcomes, and significant funding to the side of that going directly to the waste and recycling sector to encourage and ensure those good recycling outcomes and the jobs in that sector.
I know it has been top of mind for the committee and many of the other parties here in front of you today and previously how there is not a successful scheme like Containers for Change in existence but should be for many of the other products in the packaging that we all use daily.
Whilst Containers for Change is indeed one of Australia’s most successful recycling schemes by any measure, there is always room to improve and to grow.
Wherever possible, COEX has been taking action to try to give immediate effect to the spirit and the intent of many of the recommendations of this committee, even before these draft laws were put on the table.
For example, further to your recommendations about improved transparency, COEX now publishes monthly material reports in terms of downstream recycling, and we are preparing our next tranche of corporate documents, like our strategic plan, our operational plan and our budget for FY27, with the intention of publishing them
even before the laws are changed to require us to do so.
To increase industry representation, recruitment efforts are currently underway to add waste and recycling sector experience to the board.
This will replace a beverage position and have the effect of flipping the balance between beverage and non-beverage board representatives to a five-four majority of non-beverage board members.
Earlier this month we launched a new asset hire program to provide more opportunities for charities, non-profits, community groups, social enterprises and small businesses to benefit from hosting and operating reverse vending machines on their premises.
The ways that COEX works with our stakeholders are also very important.
COEX has been working very hard to engage more and to align more with our stakeholders, and that includes government, our operator partners, beverage manufacturers, the supply chain, the waste sector and local government.
As the interim CEO, I have also been working very hard to address some of the historical disputes and matters raised during the course of the inquiry last year.
Committee members may be pleased to hear that significant progress has been made in addressing all of those outstanding disputes and matters.
COEX thanks the committee for your work in conducting the inquiry and now reviewing the proposed legislative changes to strengthen the container refund scheme.
Our submission goes into detail in some of the areas where additional details may be necessary to give effect to your recommendations or to avoid unintended consequences.
These details do matter and they can make or break the scheme.
I look forward to your questions.
Read COEX’s public submissions and participation in the inquiry process here.
