Gold Coast Entrepreneur Issues Challenge To Queensland Car Rental Companies
Announcement posted by Gold Coast Family Car Rentals 28 May 2019
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release 28 May 2019
‘Gold Coast Entrepreneur Issues Challenge To Queensland Car Rental Companies’
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.
Gold Coast, May 2019. Taking a trip to the Gold Coast with the family this winter? Road trips are great fun, but they can be thirsty work. And after several stops for refreshments on the way, empty containers can pile up pretty quickly.
Gold Coast Family Car Rentals is driving a new initiative to turn those empty cups, cans and cartons into cash for charity, and it’s a cinch to do.
CEO Darryl Essington-Wilson elaborates, “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 don’t 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 10c refund. We’ll 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 3 billion containers used in Queensland every year and these are the second most littered items in the state, in spite of the fact that they can easily be recycled. Queensland launched its container refund scheme (CDS) on 1 November 2018, branded as Containers for Change to encourage recycling and reduce plastic pollution. Queensland currently has one of the lowest recycling rates in Australia at only 44%.
Under this scheme, a 10c government levy per container is refunded on every container returned to an exchange centre. Aluminium, glass, plastic and cardboard drink containers between 15ml and 3L can be returned under the CDS.
“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 10c to a worthy cause for every container returned,” says Darryl.
The charities that will benefit from the initiative are:
- Variety - the Children’s Charity
- headspace - National Youth Mental Health Foundation
- Beyond Blue - Mental health support and advice for everyone in Australia
- Dementia Australia
- RSL DefenceCare - help for Australian veterans and their families in need
- Currumbin Wildlife Hospital – Treating and releasing sick, injured or orphaned native wildlife.
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’s 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’s an opportunity to do good twice at the same time.”
Gold Coast Family Car Rentals boast Gold Star status as having Australia’s most consumer-friendly rental terms and conditions. They also offer the Lowest Price Guaranteed.
See Blog: A Helpful Way Of Giving Back
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