THE Katherine Liquor Accord is celebrating the successful roll out of plastic wine bottles in town as the community continues to tackle problems caused by alcohol abuse.
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On August 7, KLA members voted to begin selling two varieties of wine in plastic bottles in an attempt to curb the amount of glass being broken.
The unanimous decision came after Katherine Town Council sent a scathing letter to former alcohol policy minister David Tollner demanding the Northern Territory government come up with a solution to the issue.
All liquor retailers in Katherine - with the exception of BWS, which is expecting stock later this week - are now selling the plastic bottles.
KLA chairman Frank Dalton, who has worked in Territory pubs and clubs for 30 years, said the introduction of the plastic bottles had already made a difference.
“Every licensee in Katherine is not just a pub and we all know we all have a responsibility to the community,” he said.
“I’ve seen the difference, especially in the vicinity of the licenced premises.”
Katherine Town Council chief executive officer Neroli Dickens said there had been a definite reduction in the amount of broken glass and hailed the introduction of plastic bottles as “a big step in the right direction” for the community.
“Whether it is broken glass or whole plastic bottles, litter remains a never-ending cycle to contend with,” she said.
“Cleaning it up is, however, slightly less of a safety risk to council staff and the numerous community volunteers who contribute their own time, when the litter is plastic, not shards of broken glass.
“It's is a small win from that perspective but a big step in the right direction.”
A BWS spokesperson told the Katherine Times the implementation of the plastic wine bottle plan was one the supermarket giant had been happy to get involved with.
“We work closely with liquor accords across the country and are willing to support measures that the local community is calling for to deal with specific localised problems,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Dalton said that, while the response from liquor retailers in Katherine had been “fantastic”, it was important for the community to remember that plastic bottles were not an ultimate solution.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” he said.
“There will be other issues and the problem of alcohol abuse in our community is not one that one tick will fix.”