	{"id":117873,"date":"2025-12-05T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=117873"},"modified":"2025-12-03T21:21:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T10:21:50","slug":"victorians-in-the-west-help-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/victorians-in-the-west-help-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Victorians in the west help drive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>RESIDENTS across western Victoria have helped deliver a major sustainability win, with more than one billion eligible drink containers returned through Victoria&#8217;s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic) since its launch in November 2023.<\/p>\n<p>People have embraced the scheme, diverting more than 30,000 tonnes of material from landfill and returning $100 million in refunds to local residents, charities and community groups.<\/p>\n<p>Communities like Ballarat and Golden Plains have played an important role. In Ballarat, more than 81 million containers have been returned through a network of convenient refund points, putting over $8 million back into the pockets of locals and community organisations.<\/p>\n<p>In neighbouring Golden Plains, residents have returned more than three million containers, resulting in over $300,000 in refunds and thousands of dollars flowing back to local clubs, schools and community groups.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/General-TippingintoD_64843.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"358\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tipping into the depot singulator.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>TOMRA Cleanaway CEO James Dorney said the West Zone&#8217;s efforts showed how small, everyday actions add up.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every container returned is one less item in landfill or littering our streets and waterways, and one more helping to fund local sport, schools and charities. People across the West Zone should be incredibly proud of what they&#8217;ve achieved so far,&#8221; said James Dorney.<\/p>\n<p>Fast facts \u2013 CDS Vic and the West Zone<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 1 billion containers returned since November 2023<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 More than 30,000 tonnes of material diverted from landfill<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 $100 million refunded to residents and community groups<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Over 1,000 local organisations across western Victoria supported through donations<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/12\/General-FirstLoadatL_64822.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"746\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 In Ballarat and Golden Plains alone, &gt;84 million containers have been returned and almost $8.5 million in refunds have gone back to local residents and groups.<\/p>\n<p>TOMRA Cleanaway is encouraging people across western Victoria to:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Return their eligible drink containers and collect the 10-cent refund<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Consider donating some or all of their refund to a club, school or charity<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Spread the word so even more households get involved<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s to the next billion\u2014powered by the people of Victoria&#8217;s west. To find your closest refund point in the West Zone, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/tomracleanaway.com.au\/victoria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tomracleanaway.com.au\/victoria<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>\/\/SPONSORED CONTENT<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RESIDENTS across western Victoria have helped deliver a major sustainability win, with more than one billion eligible drink containers returned through Victoria&#8217;s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic) since its launch in November 2023. People have embraced the scheme, diverting more than 30,000 tonnes of material from landfill and returning $100 million in refunds to local [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/victorians-in-the-west-help-drive\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":117890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-117873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Victorians in the west help drive - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Western Victorians have returned 1 billion containers through the Container Deposit Scheme Victoria, diverting 30,000 tonnes of waste!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/victorians-in-the-west-help-drive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Victorians in the west help drive - 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