NEARLY a year after the Containers for Change scheme was launched, North Stradbroke Island residents continue to be overlooked, Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson says.
Earlier this month, the state government announced that 800 million containers had been returned through the scheme, which began in November 2018.
Seven refund points, including two pop-ups, operate in the Redlands but all are on the mainland.
Mr Robinson said it appeared Stradbroke had been an afterthought.
"Labor claims to care about the environment but has failed to provide even a single container refund point on pristine Stradbroke Island," he said.
"Residents are expected to drag bags of plastic across Moreton Bay to the mainland. Labor has harmed the economy of the island by closing the jobs-rich resources sector without a plan to replace them and now can't even organise a container refund point."
A spokesperson for scheme operator COEX said the company was still seeking an operator to service Stradbroke Island and was in talks with an interested organisation.
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In a letter to state environment and tourism ministers, Mr Robinson called for refund points for Amity, Dunwich and Point Lookout, as well as additional points on the mainland and bay islands.
While there are no refund points on the Southern Moreton Bay Islands, COEX has sought expressions of interest from businesses who would operate the sites.
The COEX spokesperson said the company was working with two operators who were going through the application process and seeking sites for evaluation.
In a response to Mr Robinson, Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch said COEX would continue to identify areas where there were accessibility gaps.
"Reducing beverage container litter is important for an area such as the Redland region with its beautiful and fragile islands and a way of life that relies so much on the health of Moreton Bay," she wrote.
"I have received advice that COEX intends to engage one of the local contracted refund point operators to assist with the roll-out of (container refund points) on Moreton Bay islands.
"CRPs are small businesses and as such, their viability, especially as a permanent location, relies to a great degree on suitable volumes of containers. This is why mobile solutions are likely to provide the best outcome for a number of the smaller island communities."
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Ms Enoch said across Queensland, the container refund scheme had helped reduce litter in the environment by about 35 per cent.
"Eighty million dollars has been refunded to individuals and families, charities and community organisations," she said.
Mr Robinson also raised the issue of Containers for Change on Stradbroke in a question in Parliament on September 17.
"Yet again the people of Stradbroke Island are Labor's forgotten people," he said.
Queenslanders use about three billion drink containers every year and they are the second-most littered item in the environment.
