How the schemes work

Container deposit schemes are based on the principle  that the beverage industry and the community share responsibility for reducing and dealing with beverage packaging waste.

The NSW and ACT schemes are based on a split responsibility model with the NSW and ACT governments the developers of the scheme and its regulator under the NSW Environment Protection Authority and ACT NoWaste respectively. Exchange for Change is the scheme coordinator, TOMRA Cleanaway is the NSW network operator, Return-It the ACT network operator, while the beverage industry fund the scheme, paying a contribution for every drink container they supplier into each jurisdiction.

In NSW, the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001 governs the NSW Government’s container deposit scheme, Return and Earn. 

In ACT, the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Act 2016 governs the ACT Container Deposit Scheme.

Container eligibility