Campaspe Shire returned over 13.5 million drink containers across six return points in the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme’s first year, equating to $1.35 million in refunds.
The CDS depot in Echuca saw over half of the region’s container deposits with more than 7.2 million returned, equating to around $720,000 in refunds at 10c per container, according to a CDS Vic spokesperson.
Simmons Recycling in Tongala saw the second-highest container returns at over 4.2 million, while the Men’s Shed in Kyabram had more than 960,000.
Twist and Sprout in Rochester received over 727,000 deposits, Stanhope Business Centre saw over 195,000, and Rushworth Community House had more than 133,000, the spokesperson said.
Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos said Victoria returned more containers than any other scheme in the country in its first year.
“Victorians have gone gangbusters for our container deposit scheme — saving one billion containers from landfill, putting $100 million back in their pockets,” he said.
The CDS has raised over $950,000 for charities and community groups in collaboration with more than 4200 donation partners since beginning on November 1 last year.
“There are lots of things to celebrate on the one year (anniversary) of this scheme that gives back to the community, creates local jobs, teaches kids about recycling and safeguards our environment,” Mr Dimopoulos said.
The CDS generated 597 direct jobs, and one-third of containers in Victoria have been redirected from landfill and recycled since the scheme’s inception.
On average, 145 containers are recycled per deposit, and over 26 million containers were returned following the AFL grand final, the scheme’s largest week of returns.