Beverage Industry Environment Council

The Beverage Industry Environment Council (BIEC) was an industry lobby group that represented Australia's beer, soft drink and leading wine manufacturers­ and their aluminium, glass and PET packaging suppliers. It operated from 1978 until May 2006.

Background
It was originally formed in 1978 as the Litter Research Association, in response to South Australia's Container Deposit Legislation (CDL) which was introduced in 1975 (the scheme began operations in 1978).

BIEC's campaigns are focussed on placing responsibility for waste with consumers rather than industry. They consistently speak out against attempts to introduce CDL in other Australian states and against other measures such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

They are behind Australia's Do the Right Thing anti-litter campaign, which started in NSW in 1979. The campaign was funded by BIEC's predecessor in an attempt to prevent CDL spreading to other states. The campaign continues to the present, although it was recently rebranded with a new message - Don't Waste Australia.

BIEC maintains support for municipal kerbside recycling programs, since the cost is shifted onto ratepayers. They have subsidised the introduction of such programs.

BIEC is a sponsor of the Keep Australia Beautiful association which runs a nationwide Tidy Towns program.

The director of the Northern Territory branch of Keep Australia Beautiful alleged that BIEC threatened to withdraw funding when KAB expressed support for container deposit legislation. Until 2001 annual funding was $250,000 but was reduced to $110,000 the following year, and withdrawn completely after that.

They provide ongoing funding for "joint projects" to the Tasmanian Southern Waste Strategy Authority.

In May 2006 BIEC became the Packaging Stewardship Forum as part of the Australian Food and Grocery Council.

Funding
According to BIEC's "About us" page the following companies fund their activities:
 * ACI Glass Packaging
 * ACI Plastic Packaging
 * Alcoa Australia Rolled Products
 * Alpine Beverages
 * Amcor Limited
 * Beringer Blass Wine Estates
 * Bertshell
 * BHP Steel
 * Bundaberg Brewed Drinks
 * Cadbury Schweppes
 * Coca Cola Amatil (Australia)
 * Consolidated Beverages
 * Coopers Brewing
 * Cooroy Mountain Spring Water
 * Crows Nest Cordials
 * Fosters Group
 * Golden Circle
 * Hopes Goulburn Cordials
 * James Boag and Sons Brewing
 * Juicy Isle
 * Lillyman Bros
 * Lion Nathan Australia
 * McWilliams Wines
 * Pacific Beverages
 * Saxbys Soft Drinks
 * The Mudgee Trading Company
 * VISYPak
 * Wimmer Marketing

Personnel

 * Maree McCaskill, CEO

Former Contact details
9 Glebe St Glebe NSW 2037 Phone (02) 9518 6566 Fax (02) 9518 6577 Former website: http://www.biec.com.au/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable
 * Corporate Social Responsibility
 * Personal Responsibility

External articles

 * Ticky Fullerton, The Waste Club", Four Corners, September 9, 2003.