The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has sought to remind the community about which items they can return to earn 10c, as part of the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS).
The scheme kicked on 1 December last year and the EPA said that more than 28 million containers have already been returned and EPA Acting Chair and Chief Executive Officer Mark Gifford said it was a good idea for people using the system for the first time to check the list of eligible containers before heading out to their local collection point.
“The list of eligible containers has been created based on an analysis of the types of containers that are most often found in the litter stream, and it matches closely to other states with container deposit schemes in place, like South Australia and the Northern Territory,” Gifford said.
“As more people across NSW get on board with Return and Earn, or continue to recycle through their local council collections, we expect to see a significant reduction in the millions of containers that are tossed onto roadsides, parks and waterways each year.”
Under the CDS most drink containers between 150ml and three litres are eligible. This includes glass, plastic, aluminium, steel and some cartons. Wine bottles and spirits bottles are not part of the scheme, with the EPA saying that research shows these drinks are more often consumed in the home and are therefore less likely to end up as litter.
Just over one month into the scheme being up and running in NSW, there are now 324 collection points in operation across the state and the EPA said that more are being rolled out every week.
In terms of returning items, the EPA said: “Containers returned to a reverse vending machine or over-the-counter collection point do not need to be in pristine condition but should be empty and uncrushed, and have the label intact. This is to ensure the label can be scanned at the collection point and the container be confirmed as eligible for the 10c return.”
Containers that cannot be deposited for a refund include:
- Plain milk (or milk substitute) containers
- Flavoured milk containers of one litre or more
- Pure fruit or vegetable juice containers of one litre or more
- Wine and spirit glass bottles
- Casks (plastic bladders in boxes) for wine or water of one litre or more
- Sachets for wine of 250ml or more
- Containers for cordials and concentrated fruit/vegetable juices
- Registered health tonics