Container Deposit Scheme

Refund point operators

Refund point operators may include small businesses, community organisations, charities, sports clubs, and councils throughout Victoria. Zone Operators are responsible for sub-contracting to refund point operators.

How it works

• Participants purchase a drink.
• Participants return their empty drink container to one of over 600 refund points across Victoria.
• Participants receive a 10-cent refund for every suitable eligible container they return. Participants can choose to keep the funds or donate to a participating charity, community group, environmental group, educational organisation, or sports group.
• Returned containers are then given a new lease on life. The material is recycled and remanufactured into a new product, saving it from landfill or littering the environment.

Refund points

There are many convenient and accessible locations across Victoria for participants to return empty drink containers. Community access and service standards ensure that participants can return their drink containers to a refund point that is convenient for them, regardless of where they are in Victoria.

There are a variety of ways to return drink containers, including:

• reverse vending machines
• depots
• over-the-counter collection points
• mobile or ‘pop-up’ refund collection points

Community Operating and Access Standards

We are committed to making Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme the most accessible and convenient scheme in Australia.

From 1 July 2024, a community operating standard applies to CDS Vic refund points, which requires minimum operating hours. These hours vary according to the location and remoteness of a refund point as classified by Australian Bureau of Statistics geographic standard.

We encourage people to visit the CDS Vic website to check opening hours of their closest refund point before visiting.

From 1 August 2024, a community access standard applies to CDS Vic refund collection points, prescribing minimum sites across Victoria. In metropolitan areas, a minimum of one refund collection point per 14,500 people applies. For regional towns of 750 or more, or remote towns of 300 or more, refund collection points will be located as required within 5 km of the town boundary as specified by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Drink containers

CDS Vic targets drink containers that most commonly contribute to litter and are often consumed away from home. This includes plastic soft drink bottles, glass beer bottles, soft drinks and alcohol sold in cans, and small fruit juice cartons.

A complete list of eligible containers can be found in the Container Deposit Scheme Regulations.

Determination instruments

As required under the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, people who supply, or intend to supply, an eligible container in Victoria must notify the Head, Recycling Victoria who will determine whether the person is, or will be, a first supplier of the eligible container for CDS Vic.

Recycling Victoria has developed formal instruments to determine first suppliers and the eligibility of drink containers for inclusion in CDS Vic:

First Supplier Determination Instrument for the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme

Suitable Eligible Container Determination Instrument for the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme

Registering eligible drink containers

If you’re a business supplying drinks in eligible containers in Victoria, you’re required to participate in CDS Vic under the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021.

For more information about first suppliers and registering eligible drink containers please visit the VicReturn website.

Material recovery facilities and local government refund sharing protocols

The Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 provides for the Head, Recycling Victoria to issue protocols that enable material recovery facilities (MRFs) and local governments and Alpine Resorts Victoria to access a refund from CDS Vic in relation to the suitable eligible containers they collect and manage.

Local Government Refund Sharing Protocol

The purpose of the Local Government Refund Sharing Protocol is to ensure equitable and transparent sharing of refunds among contracted parties involved in providing municipal recycling services that collect, sort and separate suitable eligible containers. It provides a framework that promotes accountability and cooperation among the involved parties to determine and distribute refund amounts attributed to returned suitable eligible containers.

The Local Government Refund Sharing Protocol:

• defines the minimum share of any refund amount to which a local government and a MRF operator are entitled
• establishes the method for determining the minimum share of a refund amount, ensuring that this method is in accordance with any prescribed requirements
• serves as a condition of any contract between a local government and a MRF operator unless the contract specifically provides for the subject matter of the protocol
• allows for the variation or revocation of the protocol by the Head, Recycling Victoria at any time.

Material Recovery Facilities Protocol

The Material Recovery Facilities Protocol establishes the terms for determining the refund amount from CDS Vic between the Scheme Coordinator and MRF operators with a Recovery Agreement.

It provides a structured approach calculating the refund amount payable between parties and managing the financial implications, including approved incurred costs, which arise due to the implementation of CDS Vic.

The material recovery facilities protocol clarifies:

• stakeholders
• applicability
• material output types eligible for refund
• methodology
• sampling and the Material Recovery Facilities Protocol sampling plan
• calculations
• refund amounts payable
• reporting and record keeping obligations necessary to make a valid claim
• audit and assurance requirements.

Scheme Payments and Contributions Methodology

The Scheme Payments and Contribution Methodology (SPCM) outlines the calculation, nature and timing of scheme payments made to and by the CDS Vic Scheme Coordinator.

The SPCM sets out the arrangements for first suppliers’ scheme contributions, export payments, network fees payable to Zone Operators, the service fee payable to Recycling Victoria, refund payments to material recovery facility operators and how financial penalties are charged and collected. The SPCM is approved by the Minister for Environment and may be updated from time to time.

Material sales for Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme

Visit our material sales for Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme page for information about how material collected through CDS Vic is sold to the recycling market.

Community support

CDS Vic provides charities, community groups, environmental organisations, sports groups, and educational organisations with new and easy ways to raise funds. Their options include:

• receiving donations from the community – Victorians can choose to pocket their refund or donate to a participating charity
• conducting a collection drive – receive containers from the community
• running a refund point as a business.

Consultation on regulation and oversight

Throughout the development of CDS Vic, we have consulted with the recycling industry, local government, Alpine Resorts Victoria, and the beverage industry to ensure CDS Vic will benefit all Victorians and maximise the return of drink containers for recycling.

Further information

• Container Deposit Scheme – general information
• CDS Vic – official scheme website
• VicReturn – scheme coordinator
• Zone operator websites:
  • Return-it
  • TOMRA Cleanaway
  • Visy