Worried About Bottles

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31118, 22 July 1966, Page 12

Worried About Bottles

The South Island Publicity Association is concerned that soft drink manufacturers have taken away the incentive for small boys to collect “empties.”

They fear that the decision of the manufacturers to produce soft drinks in non-re-turnable bottles will lead to a greater rash of broken glass in public places, increasing risks to health and safety. Recently, the association wrote to a firm of bottle deal-

ers in Auckland asking it to encourage the breweries to increase the return value of beer bottles to a figure which would encourage their return to a depot rather than their discard in public places. The letter said the proposal had some merit in that it would help to overcome the existing problems arising from the frequent discarding of beer bottles on roads, beaches and in other public places. The association realised that if the return value of beer bottles meant an increase in the retail price of bottled beer, this would be regarded

as a serious objection by the public. The chief executive (Mr M. F. Foate) told the association yesterday that he had received a letter from the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Seath) on the problem. Mr Seath said the Government held the view that it was yet to be shown that existing legislation if properly enforced was inadequate to deal with the problem of broken glass in public places. Mr Seath said that the Police Offences Act and the bylaws of local government organisations should be adequate to cope with the legal aspect of the problem. The difficulty was apprehending offenders, but this problem would not be solved simply by the extension of the present anti-litter legislation, he said.