Category: Environment

A ‘bottler’ – Australian colloquialism – “something exciting admiration or approval”. I’m not sure of the origins but may stem from the early convict days of Australia, thus someone known to be a bottler of rum or sly grog would “excite admiration and approval” (open to challenge on this one! ) Interesting to note that UK slang is quite the opposite “A person or group, especially a sports team, that doesn’t meet expectations, particularly prone to failure when success is expected.”

Many Australians would have fond memories of scavaging bottles for pocket money or to cover a trip to the cinema. It all made graceful environmental sense, kept the neighbourhood tidy and provided income for scout clubs and other not-for-profit associations. I always wondered if the scratched glass green coke bottles had twice or maybe three times returned to quench my thirst. All this dramatically changed when the packaging and bottling industry, like most other things, drifted out of the reach of governance and became a law unto itself, one use consumption with high embodied energy costs, and litter lining the streets for want of any incentive from bottler or consumer to ‘do the right thing’. It comes then as a pleasant surprise to see Family First Senator Fielding getting down to brass tacks and demonstrating the obvious to Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett who are struggling to win points on the greenhouse or the environment. His proposal is for a 5 cents refund scheme but the Greens would like to see this pushed up to 20 cents which from memory was the departure point prior to such schemes terminating in the early eighties.