{"id":104435,"date":"2026-01-16T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=104435"},"modified":"2026-01-14T16:25:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T05:25:31","slug":"ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"

BALLARAT and the Golden Plains are regions worth caring for, and Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic) and West Zone operator TOMRA Cleanaway are calling on locals to show their pride and make a difference for our environment.<\/p>\n

You don’t need to be a park ranger or environmental scientist to make a difference. One of the simplest ways you can help protect your streets, parks, and waterways is already in your hands: your empty drink containers<\/p>\n

Recycle. Donate. Repeat.<\/p>\n

With nearly 200 convenient return points across the CDS Vic West Zone, including reverse vending machines (RVMs), depots, and over-the-counter locations, returning your bottles and cans through the CDS Vic West Zone is a simple habit that can become part of your daily routine.<\/p>\n

You can donate your 10c refund to local legends doing good work across the region. Just download the CDS Vic West app, choose a charity that speaks to you, and your empties can help charities like:<\/p>\n

\"\"
Every bottle counts. Every can counts. Every action counts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2022 Ballarat Wildlife Rehabilitation & Conservation Inc: Support volunteer wildlife carers with costs, such as special foods and equipment.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Conservation Ecology Centre: Help protect the landscapes and species in the Otways and Great Ocean Road.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Conservation Volunteers Australia: Help restore and safeguard ecosystems and animals on land and underwater, creating healthier environments while building climate resilience and adaptation.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Gardens for Wildlife Ballarat: Help fund resources for community-focused gardening for wildlife education, training and hands-on, practical workshops.<\/p>\n

“Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme doesn’t just help reduce waste, it lets you create real local change with every bottle,” says James Dorney, TOMRA Cleanaway CEO.<\/p>\n

“One small act can ripple outwards. Recycling is a little thing that adds up to a big difference.”<\/p>\n

Use the CDS Vic West App to:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Find your nearest return point<\/p>\n

\u2022 Track your impact<\/p>\n

\u2022 Choose and support a charity you care about.<\/p>\n

Every bottle counts. Every can counts. Every action counts. Let’s build new habits that help our planet.<\/p>\n

To find your nearest CDS Vic return point, visit tomracleanaway.com.au\/victoria\/location-finde<\/a>r.<\/p>\n

\/\/SPONSORED CONTENT <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BALLARAT and the Golden Plains are regions worth caring for, and Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic) and West Zone operator TOMRA Cleanaway are calling on locals to show their pride and make a difference for our environment. You don’t need to be a park ranger or environmental scientist to make a difference. One of […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":104436,"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-104435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBallarat and the Golden Plains beautiful - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recycle with CDS Vic West Zone. Return your cans and bottles in Ballarat to protect the environment and donate to local charities.\" \/>\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\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful - Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recycle with CDS Vic West Zone. Return your cans and bottles in Ballarat to protect the environment and donate to local charities.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-15T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Times News Group\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Times News Group\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Times News Group\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a18f05ec53852f1d7d0528135e60d795\"},\"headline\":\"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":360,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful - Golden Plains Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Recycle with CDS Vic West Zone. Return your cans and bottles in Ballarat to protect the environment and donate to local charities.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Support volunteer wildlife carers through Victoria\u2019s Container Deposit Scheme.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\",\"name\":\"Golden Plains Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Golden Plains Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/GoldenPlainsNew.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/GoldenPlainsNew.png\",\"width\":3208,\"height\":336,\"caption\":\"Golden Plains Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a18f05ec53852f1d7d0528135e60d795\",\"name\":\"Times News Group\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/author\\\/warick\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful - Golden Plains Times","description":"Recycle with CDS Vic West Zone. Return your cans and bottles in Ballarat to protect the environment and donate to local charities.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful - Golden Plains Times","og_description":"Recycle with CDS Vic West Zone. Return your cans and bottles in Ballarat to protect the environment and donate to local charities.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/","og_site_name":"Golden Plains Times","article_published_time":"2026-01-15T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Times News Group","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Times News Group","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/"},"author":{"name":"Times News Group","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/person\/a18f05ec53852f1d7d0528135e60d795"},"headline":"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful","datePublished":"2026-01-15T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/"},"wordCount":360,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/","name":"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful - Golden Plains Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-15T17:00:00+00:00","description":"Recycle with CDS Vic West Zone. Return your cans and bottles in Ballarat to protect the environment and donate to local charities.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/01\/14-jan-tng-6.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Support volunteer wildlife carers through Victoria\u2019s Container Deposit Scheme."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/ballarat-and-the-golden-plains-beautiful\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ballarat and the Golden Plains beautiful"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/","name":"Golden Plains Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization","name":"Golden Plains Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/GoldenPlainsNew.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/GoldenPlainsNew.png","width":3208,"height":336,"caption":"Golden Plains Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/person\/a18f05ec53852f1d7d0528135e60d795","name":"Times News Group","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/author\/warick\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104435"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=104435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}