SA shows the way on bottle recycling

Bottles and cans are a significantly smaller proportion of litter in South Australia than in NSW or Victoria, results conservationists say is evidence that the state's 10 cent refund for recycled containers works.

The new data comes as a meeting of state and federal environment ministers will on Thursday discuss the implications of a national system similar to South Australia's.

Litter collected at 752 SA sites on the 2012 Clean Up Australia Day, and analysed by researchers at the CSIRO, showed bottles and cans made up only one in every 12 pieces of rubbish. In NSW the figure was one in three and in Victorian about one in five.

Dr Chris Wilcox, from CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship, said SA had a significantly lower component of beverage containers in the Clean Up data than any other state.

Jeff Angel, executive director of the Total Environment Centre, who has long campaigned for a national container deposit system, said: ''These findings are a good comparative measure. They show clearly that the container deposit system in South Australia is making a sustained impact.

''No alternative suggested by industry can solve this problem.''

The Northern Territory recently lost a court battle to protect its deposit scheme, when it was challenged by large drink companies, including Coca-Cola.

The beverage industry argues a national 10 cent refund would be costly and raise drink prices.