Almost 400,000 cans and bottles have been returned already in the Bega Valley since the arrival of Return and Earn reverse vending machines.
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The NSW Environment Protection Authority this week released figures on how many containers have been deposited at the four machines on the Far South Coast.
As of Thursday, January 18, the automated machine at Woolworths Bega has seen 195,236 containers returned, while the Woolworths Bermagui machine has had 195,054 containers fed through it.
Further north, Woolworths Narooma has seen 157,505 containers returned and at Woolworths Moruya, 301,724 containers.
The NSW community has returned more than 40 million containers under the Return and Earn container deposit scheme since collection points opened on December 1.
Reverse vending machines in Emerton and Casula are the most popular in the state, both recording more than one million returned containers, with Granville and Revesby on track to reach the one million mark by the weekend.
In addition, new automated depots are opening in key areas to manage large numbers of containers. These depots are specifically designed to receive and quickly process over 500 containers at a time.
Automated depots are now open at Blacktown Container Return, Cleanaway Eastern Creek, Envirobank Revesby, Channings Broken Hill, St Vincent De Paul South Nowra, Coffs Container Return, and Teeling Recyclers Casino.
NSW Environment Protection Authority acting chairman and CEO Mark Gifford said he expected more reverse vending machines to hit the one-million returns mark as new collection points opened.
People across the state are really getting behind the scheme and, at the same time as claiming the 10c deposit, they are doing the right thing by the environment, Mr Gifford said.
Forty million is a significant milestone but we see it as a stepping stone; we expect the number of returns to continue to grow as more collection points open in the weeks to come.
Already we are hearing about people seeing less litter in their local parks and sports fields, and we expect to see these environmental benefits increase as people do the right thing with their empty containers.
More collection points are rolling out across the state each day, with individuals, sports clubs, community groups and charities all claiming the 10c return.
Information on these sites will be available at www.returnandearn.org.au
What can be returned
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.
Most drink containers between 150ml and three litres are eligible. This includes glass, plastic, aluminium, steel and some cartons.
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
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.
Ineligible containers should be recycled where possible, or disposed of in appropriate bins.
More information about eligible containers, local collection points and the scheme generally is available at www.returnandearn.org.au
