General News
21 August, 2024
CDS saving animals' lives
It might cost people only a few minutes of people's time, but to the animals confined in the local pounds, the act of contributing waste items to the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) is priceless.
Residents of the Wimmera have embraced the CDS, returning more than 10 million eligible items in six months.
Between the depot and the 11 reverse vending machines, $1,055,200.40 has been returned to the community from deposits, with an average of 217 containers deposited per head of population.
Some of this money has gone back into the depositors’ pockets, while other funds have been dispersed to local charities.
Phoenix Animal Rescue Horsham (PARH) is one of the charities that has benefitted from the CDS, and those funds have been put directly to rescuing dogs and cats from the pound, PARH director Carolyn Stow said her organisation has already received about $1000 from CDS.
“The money is being put towards our pound cats and dogs and is assisting us in rescuing extra (animals) from the pound,” she said.
"For the ones that can’t stay in our program, it is certainly helping with the costs of transport."
Ms Stow said if there is no available space to take in homeless animals locally, PARH networks with other rescue organisations across the state to find a place for them to go.
“On the weekend I had a couple of dogs from the pound, and we had no capacity to take them in, so we transported them to Ballarat," she said.
“The CDS money certainly aids the cost of petrol, etc.”
Without PARH working to find a placement for these dogs, they may have been facing death.
“This money is saving lives,” Ms Stow said.
“Otherwise, we may have limited capacity to help these rescue cases because of the costs involved.
“We are a not-for-profit volunteer group, so while it doesn’t cost depositors much to donate, it’s actually saving animals’ lives.”
Since the Victorian CDS began on November 1, residents across the state have been collecting and returning eligible bottles, cartons and cans, receiving 10 cents per item when deposited at a collection point.
Torma Cleanaway operates the CDS Vic West Zone, and CEO James Dorney said he had seen first-hand the enthusiasm with which the Wimmera community is embracing the scheme.