Quite a return on recycling

By Lachlan Ellis

Victoria’s new Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) has been a huge success, including locally, with over a million containers recycled at Moorabool Shire’s CDS machines.

The two local Reverse Vending Machines, which provide 10 cents for each eligible bottle, can, or carton, are located at Bacchus Marsh Foodworks and Mitre 10 Bacchus Marsh – and recently surpassed the one million mark for total containers returned.

Users of the two machines have received a total of more than $110,000, just for recycling their drink containers.

VicReturn CEO Jim Round said it was fantastic to see Moorabool Shire residents get behind the scheme.

“Like many Victorians, residents of the Moorabool Shire have welcomed Victoria’s new Container Deposit Scheme with incredible enthusiasm. In just 12 weeks, more than 1.1 million containers have been returned at Bacchus Marsh’s reverse vending machines, putting more than $110,000 directly back into the pockets of Moorabool residents,” Mr Round told the Moorabool News.

“There are already around 400 refund points operating across Victoria and additional locations will continue to be rolled out across the state in 2024. Zone operators are working with local communities to determine where new refund points will be placed, so we can build the most convenient and accessible scheme in Australia.”

More than half of the containers returned at the two sites are aluminium cans (52 per cent), while 28 per cent are PET containers, 18 per cent are glass bottles, and 2 per cent fall under the ‘Other’ category.

Containers eligible under the Container Deposit Scheme can be easily identified by the 10 cent mark on their label, often located near the barcode.

Most aluminium, glass, plastic, and liquid paperboard (carton) drink containers between 150mL and 3 litres are eligible. The lids can be kept on as they are recycled too.

By August, the network of refund points is expected to grow to 600.

For more information on the CDS program, visit www.cdsvic.org.au.