Drinks maker Coca-Cola Amatil will hold talks with the NSW government about a proposed cash-for-containers scheme.
The government has invited industry players for talks about the potential drinks container deposit scheme despite many players, including Coca-Cola Amatil, having been fierce opponents in the past.
Similar schemes already operate in South Australia and the Northern Territory, with people receiving 10-cent rebates for each drinks container they return for recycling.
The Baird government is considering the scheme as a way to boost recycling and reduce litter, with the aim of making NSW the state with the lowest litter count per capita in Australia.
Coca-Cola Amatil says it will work collaboratively, co-operatively and in good faith with the NSW government.
"The government has stated that it believes that greater commitment and contribution from industry is required to reduce packaging waste litter and increase packaging recycling," the drinks giant said on Monday.
But the company can't say yet how much the proposed scheme could affect it financially.
Its decision to talk to the government comes just two years after it launched legal action to stop the NT introducing a cash-for-containers scheme.
In 2013, Coca-Cola Amatil branded the NT's scheme old fashioned and inefficient, saying it would increase soft drink prices.
CCA and fellow soft drink companies Schweppes Australia and Lion Nathan took legal action to try to thwart the scheme but were ultimately unsuccessful.
NSW Environment Minister Rob Stokes said the government had been examining different approaches used in Australia and overseas to reduce litter and increase recycling.
It has advised industry representatives that it favours the introduction of a container deposit scheme.
"The government is currently working with the community and industry to refine the design principles of a CDS and in turn protect the environmental health of our parks, rivers, beaches and towns," the minister said.
Mr Stokes said independent advice indicated that a scheme featuring reverse vending machines and targeting containers mostly consumed away from home, would be cost-efficient and effective.
A reverse vending machine is a device that accepts used beverage containers and returns money to the user.
The Australian Beverages Council has said that a consumer deposit scheme would increase the retail price of every bottle, can, carton of milk, soft drink, beer, wine and juice container.
Such a scheme had high operating costs, would add several hundred dollars to a household's bills at the checkout, and lead to job losses in drink manufacturing and distribution.
In South Australia, suppliers sells drinks to a retailer at a price that includes the 10-cent container deposit.
The retailer then sells the beverage to the consumer at a price that includes the 10-cent container deposit.
The consumer returns the empty container to a collection depot for a refund of 10 cents.
Empty containers are then recycled.
The overall return rate of beverage containers in South Australia is 79.5 per cent, according to SA's Environment Protection Authority.
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