{"id":732900,"date":"2026-04-16T20:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/732900\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T20:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:44:33","slug":"coca-cola-suggests-it-could-abandon-queensland-containers-for-change-scheme-amid-proposed-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/732900\/","title":{"rendered":"Coca-Cola suggests it could abandon Queensland Containers for Change scheme amid proposed reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beverage giant Coca-Cola has suggested it could pull out of Queensland’s container refund scheme if major reforms are implemented.<\/p>\n

An inquiry into Containers for Change tabled in state parliament last year received evidence of alleged conflicts of interest, unfair contracts, bullying and harassment.<\/p>\n

Ten allegations were referred to Queensland’s corruption watchdog,<\/a> the details of which have not been revealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inquiry into container refund scheme makes referrals to anti-corruption watchdog<\/a><\/p>\n

A parliamentary inquiry into the container refund scheme says it received “troubling evidence,” including alleged conflicts of interest and unfair contracts, as well as bullying and harassment.<\/p>\n

The LNP government recently introduced proposed laws to overhaul the governance of the scheme, while also ruling out an increase to the 10-cent refund amount.<\/p>\n

In a submission to a parliamentary committee, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) said the legislation created “practical challenges” and may “necessitate a reassessment of our involvement”.<\/p>\n

The company stated its reputation was “directly linked to the integrity” of the scheme, and the reforms changed the parameters in which it had agreed to participate.<\/p>\n

The state government did not directly respond to questions around the consequences of Coca-Cola exiting the scheme.<\/p>\n

The beverage giant is one of two founding members of COEX, which operates Containers for Change. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Launched in 2018, the non-profit is funded by charging beverage companies for each container they produce.<\/p>\n

The inquiry report stated that the scheme had generated $2.5 billion in revenue since its inception, but less than 40 per cent had been returned to Queenslanders, and less than 2 per cent had been allocated to charities.<\/p>\n

Coca-Cola submitted that it recognised “historical accounts of complex and, in some cases, contested matters related to COEX’s governance”, but was critical of the time allowed for a rebuttal.<\/p>\n

“While we respect the Committee’s processes, and the complex issues it was considering, we did not have the opportunity to meaningfully respond to these matters during the Inquiry despite their impact on CCEP’s reputation.”<\/p>\n

\"Various<\/p>\n

Coca-Cola is one of two founding members of COEX, which operates the scheme. (ABC News: Che Chorley\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Claims consumers may see cost increases at the counter<\/p>\n

Submissions from COEX, Coca-Cola and <\/strong>beverage manufacturer Lion, which is the other founding member of COEX, all noted the proposed reforms would increase administrative costs.<\/p>\n

Each claimed these expenses would have to be passed on to Queenslanders.<\/p>\n

\n

“Any increase in scheme costs is ultimately borne by beverage companies and will flow through to consumers, and we remain deeply concerned by this given the cost environment businesses and consumers are currently facing,” Lion Australia submitted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The state government didn’t directly respond to questions on the veracity of the claims of increased costs to consumers.<\/p>\n

“A parliamentary committee is looking at proposed changes to strengthen the container refund scheme, and anyone can share their views as part of this process,” a spokesperson for Environment Minister Andrew Powell said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beverage giant Coca-Cola has suggested it could pull out of Queensland’s container refund scheme if major reforms are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":732901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4796,4740,49271,303058,303056,303057,50,4797,4798,4790,252936,12578],"class_list":["post-732900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-andrew-powell","tag-australia","tag-coca-cola","tag-coex","tag-containers-for-change","tag-lion-australia","tag-news","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-government","tag-queensland-parliament","tag-recycling"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116416342645712914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}