“The Talanoa sessions on an opening day have been very informative and productive with guest speakers sharing different experiences and perspectives. For someone who works at the Ministry of Finance, the sessions have enhanced my knowledge of our role to play in the container refund scheme to succeed.

Some key takeaways for me from the various presentations were:

• Identifying factors to consider when choosing the right refund amount per container
• Understanding the challenges faced by Australia and NZ in the early stages of the scheme and current ongoing improvements to address these challenges
• We should start small when transitioning from a linear to circular economy model as these schemes are costly and will affect end users (consumers)

I intend to share learnings from the Talanoa workshop sessions with colleagues and will specifically prepare a presentation for our managers and CEO at the Ministry of Finance in Samoa upon returning so they can understand the costs, benefits, and operation of the scheme. Hopefully, gain their support through providing funds for early stages of the scheme until it is self-funded.”