AUSTRALIA – The Allan Labor Government has launched Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme – CDS Vic, which aims to reduce the state’s litter by up to 50% while providing financial benefits to Victorians.
Minister for the Environment, Steve Dimopoulos, inaugurated the program, which allows individuals to return their qualifying drink cans, bottles, and cartons for a 10-cent refund at designated refund points throughout Victoria.
The scheme will generate more than 600 jobs statewide and transform used drink containers into new, recycled products.
Reverse vending machines, depots, over-the-counter sites, and pop-up refund points will be the four options available for people to return their eligible containers. Depending on the type of refund point, individuals can choose to receive their refund in cash, a retail voucher, or an electronic refund.
Victorians can also choose to donate their refund to a charity or community organization registered with the scheme.
The network of refund points for recycling containers will continue to grow in 2024, making the scheme even more accessible to Victorians.
VicReturn is the Scheme Coordinator, while Zone Operators Return-It, TOMRA Cleanaway, and Visy will establish and oversee the refund points. They will also manage refunds to customers and ensure proper recycling of the containers.
The operators are each responsible for the refund point network in their allocated scheme zones: North, East, and West.
Within nine months of the scheme starting, the Zone Operators will be required to have a minimum of one collection point for every 14,500 people in metropolitan areas, at least one per town with 750 people in regional areas, and at least one per town with 350 people in remote areas.
CDS Vic is part of the Labor Government’s A$515 million investment to transform the state’s waste and recycling system.
This includes the new standardized four-stream waste and recycling system, which supports our goal of diverting 80 percent of all materials away from landfills by 2030.
Meanwhile, the Australian government recently announced plans to invest over A$190 million as part of the Recycling Modernisation Fund.
The fund is intended to help expand Australia’s capacity to sort, process, and remanufacture recycled materials, including plastic, paper, cardboard, tires, and glass. The fund will assist Australia in responding to the national regulation of waste exports.
An additional round of funding under the Recycling Modernisation Fund was made available to address waste infrastructure gaps in regional and remote areas of Australia.
