Gold Coast Family Car Rentals’ Recycling for Charity initiative turns empty drinks containers into aid for local charities and they want other Queensland rental companies to get involved.
CEO Darryl Essington-Wilson says, “Our vehicle preparation process now includes the addition of a couple of reusable shopping bags. These are often overlooked in holiday packing, and providing them means our customers do not need to use plastic ones when they do their food and beverage shopping. Best of all though, when returning the car, customers can use the bags to return any empty drink containers eligible for a 10 cents refund. We will exchange them for cash in support of six different charities in our community fund program”.
Darryl is extending the challenge to other Queensland car rental companies to do the same. There are approximately three billion containers used in Queensland every year, in spite of the fact that they can easily be recycled. Queensland launched its container refund scheme in November of 2018, branded as Containers for Change. This initiative was created to encourage recycling and reduce plastic pollution. Sadly, Queensland currently holds one of the lowest recycling rates in Australia. Under this scheme, a 10 cent government levy per container is refunded on every container returned to an exchange centre. Aluminium, glass, plastic and cardboard drink containers within a certain size can be returned.
“Holidaymakers are not always going to have the time to find a local exchange centre, and will more likely discard them in a yellow top household bin or dumpster at their hotel. These containers will go directly to a recycling centre and the government keeps the original levy. But by bringing those containers back to us in the bags provided at the end of their trip, we can donate 10 cents to a worthy cause for every container returned.”
The charities that will benefit from the initiative are Variety, Headspace, Beyond Blue, Dementia Australia, RSL DefenceCare and Currumbin Wildlife Hospital. Gold Coast Family Car Rentals prides itself on value, service and integrity, and Darryl maintains that these values extend to the greater community and the natural environment.
“We have some of the most superb beaches in the world and people come from all over to enjoy them. We all need to do our bit to combat environmental pollution, and keeping our environs free of unnecessary litter is something we need to take responsibility for. It is a big part of giving back to the area that our businesses benefit from. If we can recycle and donate to worthy charities at the same time, that is an opportunity to do good twice at the same time.”
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