There is an interesting story here.
For a very long time, Australia, along with most other countries, sold their recycling to China. This was our main strategy with recycling here. We had very little in the was of recycling infrastructure domestically.
Just a few years ago, China stopped buying recycled waste entirely. So suddenly we had a large amount of recycled waste and nothing to do with it. As you can probably guess, it just went to landfill instead.
Domestic recycling infrastructure has been increasing since then. The fate of your recycled waste depends on your local council's strategy. They will likely send it to a larger recycling organisation, or send it to landfill.
I do that for free. Put my cans in a yellow bin and put that out on the curb every second Thursday night.
I'm still doing it but everything that came in bottles and cans went up in price.
Been a shit system for me.
I agree. I did it twice and the first time it didn't go into my account and the second time it wasn't really enough for the effort. My son loves doing it though, but it's so slow and I have to take a step for him to be able to reach. I have two big recycling bins and they're full most weeks. If I could crush the cans I'd be much more willing to do it but it takes up so much space for little reward. Unfortunately my beer of choice went up $4-6 per slab.
I’ve been actually recycling my cans the whole time in the recycling bin. Unless you are desperately poor, it’s completely illogical to waste your time trying to claim the refund.
It’s just a new tax you have to pay now.
Please collect them and then offer them to someone in need. My Dad suffered a brain injury, and can no longer work, despite being a workaholic prior to injury (61 - earning a high wage, suddenly not capable). His support workers take him around to people donating them, and he collects the money. He currently makes about $50 a week, so not a lot, but the experience of doing something - getting people the bags to collect them, picking the cans up and having a chat when he collects them, makes him feel useful. He even offers you the money for them, despite now being up Shit Creek without a paddle on the DSP with a mortgage.
So, if you are happy to collect them, then reach out to your local community service or disability support and see if anyone has a need or desire to feel valued as a worker but can't actually be employed. This scheme can be so amazing, if people view it differently.
Honestly, how much is your time worth? My family has always recycled, now the cans are set aside for my kids to return but last time we went it was over an hour wait before they could even use the machine. If it wasn’t another income stream for the kids outside pocket money for chores there is no way we’d use the new system. Much prefer to chuck them in the yellow bin and have the council pick them up.
We've got a kid up the street who put a sign out because they're collecting them. So, we now "have a drink for the kid", keep the cans, and take a walk up and drop them off every couple of weeks
No. I don’t have a car. There are 3 supermarkets within walking distance where I can easily buy cans, but no recycling spots in the whole suburb. And encouraging people to buy a car and then drive to recycle when they have recycling bins at home is horrible for the environment. All up this whole program is a disaster.
But it isn't a small amount for taking the time to recycle.
Compared to the previous situation you are no better off.
Do you realise you are now paying an extra 10c per container at the point of sale?
You're not making a small amount for recycling, all you're doing in=s getting the 10c back they took from you.
So what you're saying is that it's a net neutral situation. This is what I'm talking about in another comment. You get slugged the extra 10c, so wouldn't you be wanting to do anything to square the equation?
It's not net neutral. I now have to waste my time dropping it off at a collection center rather than just putting in the yellow bin. It's a stupid fucking scheme.
Exactly!
Someone I know told me they had been doing this for a little extra money for the kids ... Ok, fair enough. They went on to explain they made about $50 over 2 weeks and all up it had consumed like 4 hours of their time or something like that between collecting/rummaging and time spent driving to/from the drop off places etc.
So basically they were working for like $10 an hour.
Not even close to neutral.
Before we put containers in our recycling bin at home, recycling with breast zero effort.
Now you've got to keep them separate and uncrushed, and then go find and likey queue at a working rvm.
Even miss a single can and you're behind.
I wouldn't call it even.
It's not too new in NSW but there are a lot of older people who basically go bin diving place to place to collect them.
You see some of them with giant bags stacked on top of trolleys.
I doubt it would be a stable source of income but extra money for them (with nothing else to do).
Correct. I know of a retired bloke around 80 who has a nice unofficial collection route he does with another guy. At least one pickup on his route is 1000 bottles/cans. They’re on the pension and do ok out of it.
I had a couple of mates in SA over 30 years ago who used to go to sporting events, mainly football, every weekend and fill bags of empty beer cans. They made a good amount of money on people's drunken waste, back when they were 5c per can.
That's a fair way to look at it and I think its great they are trying to get you to return cans for recycling, I just wish they could make it slightly easier
could also be teething issues with the scheme in VIC
They are actually primarily "anti litter" schemes, the recycling was purely a secondary consideration historically. Obviously the recycling has become more of a focal point now, but in the past it was to incentivise people picking up litter or penalise those who do litter in a subtle way.
It also puts the cost of dealing with the containers at the feet of the manufacturers. If you put them in the Yellow Bin, it is the ratepayer who is generally paying for them to be recycled at that point.
Another subtle bonus is that less containers in yellow bins means that the yellow bins overall as less contaminated or mixed. Because the container deposits provide mostly pre-sorted waste streams, less energy is spent on decontamination or sorting later.
I work at a small local bar and we have one kid that comes in every week to grab our used cans from us. According to his dad he's making $40 a week going around to all the local businesses go grab their cans. So not only are all these businesses properly recycling their cans, but this 10 year old kid is making a killing and learning what a bit of hard work can do for him. I think it's a great program.
That's awesome and I agree with the benefits of the program being there, especially for those with spare time who want to make some extra money. My issue is more with the slow and broken reverse vending machines making the process feel pointless due to how slow it can be
I grew up in Germany where we had a container deposit scheme since 2003. I always collected my bottles and cans when I lived there and I still do so when I visit now. BUT it is 25 cents (€), roughly 40c (AUD). So you get 4 times as much back AND you can return your containers at any retailer that sells bottles or cans. Here it’s a massive pain in the arse to even find a place to take them. I don’t drive 6k just to return 10 cans for 60c. Is a really badly implemented system imho.
I grew up in California and had container deposits since 1988. Every major supermarket car park had a couple of shipping containers in the far corner with an attendant who weighed your cans and bottles and handed you cash. In and out in 5 -10 minutes. Now, I live in a regional town with a population of 15,000, and the closest kiosk is a 50km round trip. I would bet 90% of the population just puts the deposit bottles in the council bin rather than spend 90 minutes plus fuel to redeem the deposit, so it is essentially a new tax imo.
I can remember back in the day, we would take bags of cans to a metal recycling place. Whatever we collected during the year was what we got to spend at the RNA Exhibition on showbags/junk food.
We used to have this in Darwin back in the 80’s, I’m pretty sure south Australia had it too. As kids, lots of people had these huge hessian bags with metal frames in their yard to hold the cans. We’d go around collecting cans until it was full and then take it to the depot for weighing. I think it was 5c per can back then. We would crush the cans to fit more in the big bag, which was probably 1m2 wide and 1.5m high.
Iceland, population \~380,000, runs a good and easy to use container deposit scheme.
Same for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Germany (though of course, with larger populations).
It might be easier with a bigger population, but it's not necessarily the causation of better systems.
Same system in Czechia. And IMO, having a standardised beer bottle that can be refilled by any brewery is preferable to having to remelt the glass. Pretty sure that Pilsner is the only exception (not sure in Germany). Probably because most of it is exported. Every other brewer uses generic 500ml brown bottle and sticks their own label on.
>having a standardised beer bottle that can be refilled by any brewery is preferable to having to remelt the glass
100% this. Glass recycling requires a tremendous amount of energy, simply reusing costs a lot lot lot less
*since 2003*
I lived in NRW in the early 90s and it was alive and happening then. I remember the return vending machines at high-end supermarkets, as well as being able to take beer botles to any Imbiss. Crazy that Australia is still struggling with this shit 30+ years down the line.
Yeah .. South Australia has had the scheme for decades also although I don't think the rebate has changed much in that entire time .. this is where the 10c benchmark has come from. Probably set when this represented 20% or more of the value of the bottle.
I agree it should be more.
In SA you could just drive in with your boot filled with those plastic checkered bags of crushed cans and they’d do all the counting for you. Haven’t used the new machines here in VIC and doubt I will now after reading all this
Adelaide has this scheme for decades and its somehow even worse than what Vic has now. Used to live in the Adelaide CBD and there was not a single location to return cans.
If you really don't care about getting the refund I suggest contacting a local community group to see if you can drop the recycling off to them and they can take it to the sorting centre and keep the funds. Most sports clubs, Rotary, scouts etc would probably be happy to accept a bag or two from you regularly. I was at a collection centre last week on a weekday, and we had to wait a while because they were processing $200 worth of cans and bottles from the cricket club..
This is a good idea! I've just been giving mine to friends if they ask, otherwise they just end up in the recycling bin as usual (the cans and bottles - not my friends).
This is the way. I don’t see the value in me personally doing it, but I don’t want see this stuff go to waste.
Lucky for me my neighbour collects them to pass onto a charity, so I can just jump the fence and drop them off.
Our workplace has set up a bin just for the recyclables, and they'll empty as required and donate the funds to various charities.
Worth looking into for those who work somewhere that would accommodate this.
100% this. Our household is too busy with more immediate priorities to be able to get to a vending machine, but we're more than happy to set aside recyclables and let others in the community take them off our hands.
The revrse vending machines are actually pretty quick. I did about 25 bucks worth and they all went in one after the other as fast as I could put them in.
The problem is that they are always broken or full or have a massive queue.
If you can get to a depot it's much faster, but last time I went to my depot the machgine was broken and they were doing it all manually so there was another queue.
The system is OK overall, it's just that the companies operating the system are completely incompetent. They can't empty their machines, they can't repair them, they can't handle the number of customers they have.
If the machines and depot worked properly, it would be so much easier.
Prices went up 15c for the scheme. 10c goes back to you, 5c is for administration (collection points, trucks, etc).
It was never a way for you to make money.
Yeah I'd be interested to see what the proportion that get returned through the scheme is on average. Say it's 40%, then they're only paying out 4c out of every 15c. If it does really cost them 5c in administration, they're making a profit of 6c per unit sold, which soon adds up!
Generally not, the cost for councils and State Governments to deal with the litter caused by containers is eclipsed by the amount they get from the scheme. It is a subtle incentive for people to return the containers, and a subtle disincentive for throwing them away (as litter or in landfill).
The manufacturer/seller pays the fee upfront, if the container doesn't get returned, the Government gets the fee (from my understanding). They are then meant to use that money to either invest more into the scheme (making it more attractive or easier) or use it to combat the litter and landfill problems caused by the unreturned containers.
In Queensland the fee is also slightly different for different types of containers, so there are slight incentives for manufacturers to try to use containers that attract a smaller fee (in my opinion, unsure if this is how it works in practice).
It’s early stage. We only have it for like couple of months? Perhaps in time there’ll be more machines and depots etc. Just like there’s 7/11 in every block or something. It’s possible. Also, I don’t think it’s mean to make you make profit, just encouraging to reclycle “for the future” or whatever that is.
My 12 year old son has collected nearly $60 over Christmas and New year's taking our cans and bottles back for refunds. That's not a complete waste of time.
That we (and he) collected, so became ours. I didn't say we bought them all. When we had a party, some people byo'd. When we went to the boxing day test, my son collected a few. When we went to local cricket, my son collected about 30 bottles/drink containers $3 worth.
The vast majority were mine, the stuff I'm buying isn't any more expensive for me. I can't speak for everyone else. I had 3 cartons of beers from craft cartel which I snagged for $35 each, for example.
I'm glad it wasn't a waste of time for him and that he got some sweet money from it! I have been disappointed with my experiences with the reverse vending machines near me though, especially when they are often filled or broken when I finally have the time off uni and work to drive to one on the weekend.
I live in a place where there has been a deposit on bottles for as long as I can remember. There are next-to-no empties the streets/parks/road verges. Those on low income (think: homeless) have an incentive to tidy up. Local sports groups and service organizations do ‘bottle drives’ where they collect them from homes as fund-raisers.
How good is that?
An amazing incentive to tidy up and I hope VIC gets to that stage someday, right now my experiences with the reverse vending machines have just been incredibly slow and tedious.
I hope it gets ironed out and the process becomes faster and easier for those with limited time/access to depots
We collect cans, too. I've got $100 on 2 trips. We drink a lot of Pepsi Max and water. We went to a different collection this time. This one, you don't have to sort it yourself. A machine does it for you. The one closer to our house just recently shut, so I assume it'll be chaos next time we go again. Just have patience.
Our local exchange point has a mass drop spot.
we keep them in black bags that we duct tape the tops, untill we have 15 bags or so.
and we just open the bags into typical garbage bins, (like your home council ones) and they do the rest.
Returned $1100 worth last year, chistmas to christmas
I see no downside to it. Most of my family currently just donates all of them to me 7 year old niece, she's raking in the pocket money haha
- Encourages recycling
- Gives people of extreme low socio-economic situations (such as homeless) a method of income + kids
- Price of the products goes up, will hopefully push less people to consume them. All of the products that give refunds aren't drinks you should be consuming frequently if at all. You could try to make an argument for bottled water but you shouldn't buy bottled water in any sort of bulk either.
- Keeps cities cleaner, I've seen so many people stopping to pick up bottles since the scheme started.
I understand ya frustration with the vending machines, but it's very early days. Give them time to sort it out, if you can't justify the effort (nor can I) then donate ya bottles/cans to a family member or local community hub instead.
I have done the scheme in both Qld and Wa,
In QLD they offer a drive in depot where you can back up to the machine. They also offer a drop off where you can drop off your bottles and cans and they will just credit your bank account. The longest I sat in line there was about 15 minutes.
In WA, I have only really seen a drive in depot where someone will then count all the bottles and cans and sort them by hand. The longest wait for this service was about half an hour.
It’s also worth saving as much bottles and cans and take it in one trip, I usually go every 4 months or so and get about $50-$70 back. For a small amout of work it’s worth it.
I think Victoria have really rushed the scheme and should have looked to the other states and territorys and taken notes on how they operate the scheme.
This is Aussie states and politicians for you though. They all have such an inferiority/little sibling complex, they refuse to copy someone. Always trying to prove themselves that they can do it better. Look at Victoria's PT ticketing.
Find a bulk return depot. There’s one on Racecourse road in Altona. You literally drive up, dump all your cans and bottles in a hopper and it processes the lot. At the end you get a receipt for the value of your cans/bottles and they convert it to cash on the spot. No need for an app. I’ve been to this one 3 times now. In and out in 5 minutes. It is very well run.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/DQXj9tuobKcGrwbD9
We picked up 8 bucks worth of cans off the side of 4x4 tracks in one day over christmas..kept the kids entertained and they got a bit of money to keep them motivated to keep at it next time
Slightly off topic, but I wanted to share this video of a Victorian man’s quest to collect bottles and return them to NSW like the plot from a Seinfeld episode:
https://youtu.be/PwgT-bm-dP4?si=5tbCQauA7eyc4mV-
I love Beau!! He has such a great outlook on life while also shining a light on how absurd modern life can be. His video is what originally got me interested in the deposit scheme and how much one can make for collecting waste
Going by some of the answers here it seems people are not realising they are paying for that 10c at the point of sale.
Anyone recycling is not making money, they are only re-claiming the 10c per container they paid at the point of sale.
10c that you didn't have to pay 6 months ago.
South Australia has had this for years, to their credit it kept the homeless in Rundle mall busy collecting cans/bottles all day so they had enough money to eat. The area is a lot cleaner too.
Ours works great because they aren’t the vending machines. We just tip ours out on the turntable, the cans etc go on to a conveyer belt to be sorted and we get the cash. Only takes minutes. Best thing ever.
There’s one in Melton like that. We save up bottles and cans and my elderly parents take them down every couple of months for a little extra cash. If it wasn’t for the manned counter, they wouldn’t be able to figure out the machines, let alone stand in a long queue and take an hour or so to get to the machine in the first place.
The rollout in Melb hasn’t been great. We drove around to multiple vending machines and all were full. They need more of them!! Or empty them more often
Why couldn't the money have just been spent improving our current recycling system... You know, where we put all the other recyclables, the recycling bin that is efficiently picked up on mass every fortnight.
Rather than this convoluted, taxed, fucked up system of collecting cans then fucking around trying to get a few $ back. Another stupid scheme that too many smooth brained Greenies thought was great and no one with any critical thinking skills intervened before it got implemented.
What a dumb concept though, "you get the money back if you aren't lazy"... How about we just don't take the money from us in the first place and we put our recycling in the recycling bin like everything else.
The scheme is actually to stop littering. Or to get people to pick up litter. That's why glass jars aren't included for example. Because they're not thrown out car windows.
We supply our crew with bottled water and go through about 2 pallets worth a month over summer. I start work an hour early and go straight to the machine and cash them in, takes 2 of us about an hour to do just over a thousand bottles. The only annoying bit is they don't take 2ltr bottles.
It’s really good that you can do that. I had a friend (in nsw) that worked at a restaurant and would save the cans and bottles from that. Went with her one day to cash them in and she got $120 from it. I’m unsure how long she’d been storing them up for but that’s a pretty nice bonus.
I enjoy doing it, we’ve worked out the best time to go and can check on the app if it’s opening, full or broken. I stock up before going but nothing crazy, maybe $15 worth (which is easy cause dad’s a drinker). I’ve made $110 since it started which is pretty good. I will say though, I have quite a few machines around that I can go to
Edit because I though I wrote it but I didn’t, I also take grandparents as well which adds up
So far I’ve found it to be good. I’ve got a depot down the road and have done 2 trips first one $50 and second one $25. Fairly quick and the staff were really helpful. Nice to get some extra cash
We used the vending machines at Wyndham and I was impressed. Firstly, by how well the machines worked, and it was great to see people who were hustling for Coles vouchers and whatever with bags of bottles that had once been probably been lying in a gutter. Anything that encourages some actual recycling I thnk is great. Our 20 minutes of throwing houshold bottles into the chute garnered $5 to the account, that paid for bread and milk the next day, and kept the circular economy chugging along.
They’ve also made it really hard if you don’t drive. I’ve been collecting bottles in my garage to take to a vending machine on the bus but if the only one in my area is broken, which people say it often is, I guess I just lug them all back home again and give up
Not only are we all paying extra on those items and often the 10c. Then you have to drive to a depot using fossil fuels you then need to hope is machines at the depot are working
All along the recycle truck still comes along and picks up your recycle bin again using fossil fuels.
So we pay more for the item , we then store the cans , then jump in the car to redeem our 10 cents and then we watch the recycle truck still driving around as per normal
How the hell did anyone think this was a good idea. I know Cole’s and Woolies as they can bump up prices more than the 10 c to increase their staggering profits
I've just used one of the brand new ones in my area. Went through 91 beer bottles in about 2 mins. Granted there were 2 of us alternating feeding them in
I was actually impressed at how quickly it went and how little issues we had, only 2 were rejected which we then scanned at the end and both went through
Since finding an older guy going through our recycling to get our cans and bottles, I now just leave mine seperate in a cardboard box next to our recycling bin… I can’t be bothered taking them to the depot and if he wants to then he can go for it! They’re gone every other day.
ummm it's not to make money.. it's a "refund" scheme. You pay an extra 10c.. take your cans back.. get 10c \*refunded\*.
Think of it, as getting a fuzzy warm feeling that you are helping to recycle. A lot of the waste that gets put in yellow bins end up in landfill because one dickhead in your suburb decide to hide a nappy in their yellow bin.
Scheme is to help recycle... and one way to get people involved is to give them $$$ back, even if it just cents.
Look, I get it’s annoying and doesn’t feel incentivising, but I also see heaps of recycling bins effectively contaminated with people being either uneducated or lazy with regard to what can and can’t be recycled. If this reduces the amount of recyclables that ends up in landfill, I think it’s a net positive.
I’ll also acknowledge that I haven’t seen verification that it does actually get recycled but that’s another discussion
It's not available yet in Melbourne, but there may be are places like this that are available
https://re-collect.com.au/containers-for-change/
They will collect them from your house and deposit them for you (and take a cut but you won't have to wait in line)
You can't go at night. The machines have "opening hours" and only operate during these times (when they're not broken or full).
Why do automated machines have opening hours? Maybe they have to pay them overtime to work after 7pm or something...
Last time I returned my cans/bottles I got about $200 back, but this was about 2 carloads.
You can also contact scouts and they'll drop off a bin for you to collect your bottle etc in and you then contact them when it's full to come and collect, they'll drop off an empty one for you.
I’m waiting for a local community group to ask if they can collect mine. For the $3.00 or so per month it won’t be worth my while but for say the scouts, girl guides, rotary, school or local church I will happily drop them off.
Until then it’s in the recycling bin they go.
My opinion is its a bit of a shit show. So many obstacles. Find an open (and not full) machine, and how do you get to one if you dont drive?, dont crunch the cans (what if you have limited space), download and signup to an app (why?).
In the Netherlands, in the early 90’s, any supermarket had a little machine in the store, you take your bottles, get the credit for that store and shop. Easy, convenient, and allows you to take back just a 4 or 5 if you want. Also, each bottle (eg 1.25 Coke, or 33cl beer) is cleaned and refilled 20 times. Not used- melted- used for something new.
Australia really over complicates so many things.
When I was a kid in Vic, it was 20c a bottle. Used to go collect them before the garbos got there. Garbos didn’t like this. You could take them to the milk bar for money back. So 50 years later it’s gone down to 10c.
2024 Everyday I go past the reverse vending machine and check to see if I can drop my little collection off. I’ve only been able to recycle them on 2 occasions it’s always bloody full already.
My local refund station is sitting in a car park wired up to a portable generator. I'm guessing this costs more than any return value on the containers.
Secondly, out of four machines only one was working. Put a plastic bottle in and it spat it out and said Glass only.
Put all my shit back in the car and drove home laughing at how bad this is.
I live in a town of 3400 people. Everytime I take my cans to the depot it is full or out of order. The operator was there the other day and it was frustrating for him. It was reading full and when he opened it there was a small wheelie bin inside with half shredded cans.( not even compacted). It was half full. He emptied it and tried again. This time it said it needed cleaning. He opened the door again and sprayed the screen with windex and cleaned it. It worked then.
It’s a terrible system. Another massive waste of money.
One of the local publicans was in front of me in the cue. He had hundreds of cans.
I drove around 4 different sites on Saturday because of this - the site was either too crowded, or machine was already full. Really hope they open up more locations.
Can't work out why the eastern staters are having so much trouble with this. We've had it for 50 years or so in SA and it works fine. Stick with it, it's not that hard and your natural environment will be heaps cleaner at the end of it!
My family has made about $500 since the rebate. The OP is clearly not doing it right and does not understand the point. Pick your times. It’s not hard to come back another time.
The whole thing is dumb. People are still going to litter when they’ve just spent $100 on a carton of Jim beam or whatever. As if they care about the $2.40 and effort it takes to deal with the empties, the grubs will be grubs regardless. It’s just created an unnecessary industry and passed the cost on to consumers, where most people were doing the right thing before anyway and putting their stuff in the recycling bin, mine still go in the there, I can’t be stuffed wasting my time and fuel to get a couple of dollars.
When you factor in fuel and time there is no incentive for most people to do this. It might be good for homeless people to make money and clean up the streets…but why would they do that when they could make more sitting outside Coles.
Also, you would assume that anyone doing this scheme would likely have been the type to do the right thing with their recycling previously anyway. I don’t really see how it results in any positive change.
I've started picking up loose cans and bottles that I find around the street and chuck them in my pile for refund. Granted it's only a few, but it still is happening.
I do this too and yeah it's only a few but if there's a few of us doing it, it all helps right? I've been surprised at how much litter there is in nature strips - which admittedly I didn't notice as much until that litter ended up looking like money.
The scheme works for me. I've said it on every post about it but I'll say it again. I collect my own cans/bottles of which I have a fair few. I live in a unit complex with about 12 recycling bins so I have a box there for people to chuck their bottles into and go through them. Pick up litter on the side of the road sometimes. On recycling bin night, I go through the bins up my street while I take my doggo for a walk. I have another neighbour who brings me a tub full and work are also collecting for me.
Nobody has minded so far, I'm neat with it, if I remove anything to get to cans I'll put it back. If anything, it's made me talk to more of my neighbours which I think is a plus. In my personal situation I struggle socially (I have autism) and with my mental health and leaving the house so it's a good incentive to get out of the house which I don't do enough sometimes. Plus I feel like I'm doing something for the community, the environment and myself. I think that's a really great thing as I'm sure I'm not the only one in that position.
It'll be interesting to see stats come out on it when its' been going for longer. I made $40 last time and I need to go again at the moment (running out of storage space now!), hoping to get to $50 as I feel like I have more than last time. I use it as fun money. Some might use it to help with bills. Every bit helps.
Scheme is bullshit. A mere 10c price increase represents a 20% to 30% jump in cogs. Oh, I also have to pay above that 10c to keep the scheme running. It’s just a money grab by my government shitheads. I bet only a handful of bottles are recycled
I've only ever seen a line once and I just drove to another depot that had no lines.
I think the machines work well. Never had a problem.
I di agree with the point regarding the price increase. Bottles have gone up more than 10 cents, and not even half of the bottles would be recycled. Who's making profit here?
I really think it’s time we change the sub’s name to r/whingewhingewhinge
It’s all I ever seen to see on here of late..
Wasn’t this supposed to be fun?
Lmao, sorry I defintley see that this post seems whingey in hindsight. Glad I could get some perspective on the program though and other ways to deposit schemes are ran
Sorry that wasn’t totally directed at you. More of a general observation.
For what it’s worth I’ve had a great experience going to the one in my neighbourhood on weekdays if I’m off work. Even when a guy had a literal van-load (said he owned a bar), I didn’t have to wait that long.
If you ask me anything that gets peoplewho usually wouldn’t to do the right thing is a good thing
It's a shit scheme.
It benefits literally no one while we're stuck paying an extra 10c at the checkout and then making the choice of either fuckarsing around storing a tub or bag of containers for a month, in space that we DIDN'T have to waste prior because we could put those containers in a recycling bin, only to then pop that tub or bag in the car along with the ants and wasps, to go to a collection point we have to queue at at best, or find another if it's out of order.
Any they say we were consulted in this?
Bullshit.
And as usual those who are frail, elderly or disabled have another chore they need help with, or just use their existing recycle bin and face the price rise (that they already can't afford).
The only thing this scheme has done is make me turn to 1.25 and 2L plastic.
Great job assclowns, we had an infrastructure to recycle the ever so incredibly recyclable aluminium can, and you've just turned me to plastic.
Anyone that thinks this beats the existing curbside we had is a moron.
I've heard people say "It's because some people didn't recycle properly"
Well spot checks fixes that, not inventing a new bullshit scheme at multi millions of dollars.
Remember it's not just the 10c, we're all paying for this in taxes too.
Would be keen to put my recyclables in a container on the street and have council pick them up. Maybe they could reduce the rates by a couple hundred dollars a year and they can claim the money back?
I’m a fan of recycling (actually reduce and reuse above that) but this scheme is ridiculous for many reasons.
Just fuckin' kill the scheme and put the prices back down to where they were; thaaanks!
It's vomitous how the cunts force the public into these holes...
Well judge me for it but I took $30 worth in and that why I have food in my belly FYI subcontractor out of work a week before Xmas back at work now
No judgement. Helping recycle and getting some cash.
You would have already had that $30 in your pocket if they didn't take it in the first place
Not if you're collecting cans from other people
You've never been able to make money off them though, it's supposed to give you a little bit of cash in exchange for your uses bottles
I've always considered it more of "here's a small amount for taking the time to actually recycle."
Wonder what the hell has been happening with all the stuff we put in our provided recycling bins all these years
There is an interesting story here. For a very long time, Australia, along with most other countries, sold their recycling to China. This was our main strategy with recycling here. We had very little in the was of recycling infrastructure domestically. Just a few years ago, China stopped buying recycled waste entirely. So suddenly we had a large amount of recycled waste and nothing to do with it. As you can probably guess, it just went to landfill instead. Domestic recycling infrastructure has been increasing since then. The fate of your recycled waste depends on your local council's strategy. They will likely send it to a larger recycling organisation, or send it to landfill.
Probably nothing.
I do that for free. Put my cans in a yellow bin and put that out on the curb every second Thursday night. I'm still doing it but everything that came in bottles and cans went up in price. Been a shit system for me.
I agree. I did it twice and the first time it didn't go into my account and the second time it wasn't really enough for the effort. My son loves doing it though, but it's so slow and I have to take a step for him to be able to reach. I have two big recycling bins and they're full most weeks. If I could crush the cans I'd be much more willing to do it but it takes up so much space for little reward. Unfortunately my beer of choice went up $4-6 per slab.
Sure. By the way, it is "kerb." Curb is to restrain.
Kerb your grammar policing
Oh, that's clever (not sarcasm)
I’ve been actually recycling my cans the whole time in the recycling bin. Unless you are desperately poor, it’s completely illogical to waste your time trying to claim the refund. It’s just a new tax you have to pay now.
Please collect them and then offer them to someone in need. My Dad suffered a brain injury, and can no longer work, despite being a workaholic prior to injury (61 - earning a high wage, suddenly not capable). His support workers take him around to people donating them, and he collects the money. He currently makes about $50 a week, so not a lot, but the experience of doing something - getting people the bags to collect them, picking the cans up and having a chat when he collects them, makes him feel useful. He even offers you the money for them, despite now being up Shit Creek without a paddle on the DSP with a mortgage. So, if you are happy to collect them, then reach out to your local community service or disability support and see if anyone has a need or desire to feel valued as a worker but can't actually be employed. This scheme can be so amazing, if people view it differently.
Some kids also love to do this.
You get slapped with the increase to cover the rebate, but then you don't return them to recoup some of that increase... weird.
Honestly, how much is your time worth? My family has always recycled, now the cans are set aside for my kids to return but last time we went it was over an hour wait before they could even use the machine. If it wasn’t another income stream for the kids outside pocket money for chores there is no way we’d use the new system. Much prefer to chuck them in the yellow bin and have the council pick them up.
You can check the app to get some indication about how full or empty the reverse vending machines are. May not be 100% but can be an ok indicator.
Yeah, I’d rather waste $4 than spend over an hour walking to the nearest reclamation point to get it back.
We've got a kid up the street who put a sign out because they're collecting them. So, we now "have a drink for the kid", keep the cans, and take a walk up and drop them off every couple of weeks
That sounds like an imaginary problem. Couldn't you just drive there
No. I don’t have a car. There are 3 supermarkets within walking distance where I can easily buy cans, but no recycling spots in the whole suburb. And encouraging people to buy a car and then drive to recycle when they have recycling bins at home is horrible for the environment. All up this whole program is a disaster.
I was attempting a joke about your user name. Should have put the /s at the end.
I imagine people don't want to leave a pile of rubbish in their homes or property so they can make a small amount of money.
But it isn't a small amount for taking the time to recycle. Compared to the previous situation you are no better off. Do you realise you are now paying an extra 10c per container at the point of sale? You're not making a small amount for recycling, all you're doing in=s getting the 10c back they took from you.
So what you're saying is that it's a net neutral situation. This is what I'm talking about in another comment. You get slugged the extra 10c, so wouldn't you be wanting to do anything to square the equation?
It's not net neutral. I now have to waste my time dropping it off at a collection center rather than just putting in the yellow bin. It's a stupid fucking scheme.
Exactly! Someone I know told me they had been doing this for a little extra money for the kids ... Ok, fair enough. They went on to explain they made about $50 over 2 weeks and all up it had consumed like 4 hours of their time or something like that between collecting/rummaging and time spent driving to/from the drop off places etc. So basically they were working for like $10 an hour.
Not even close to neutral. Before we put containers in our recycling bin at home, recycling with breast zero effort. Now you've got to keep them separate and uncrushed, and then go find and likey queue at a working rvm. Even miss a single can and you're behind. I wouldn't call it even.
Been doing that just fine with the recycle bin.
It's not too new in NSW but there are a lot of older people who basically go bin diving place to place to collect them. You see some of them with giant bags stacked on top of trolleys. I doubt it would be a stable source of income but extra money for them (with nothing else to do).
Correct. I know of a retired bloke around 80 who has a nice unofficial collection route he does with another guy. At least one pickup on his route is 1000 bottles/cans. They’re on the pension and do ok out of it.
That’s a lot of work for $100
It is supposed to entice you to recycle and sort instead of throw them out.
/stares at large recycling bin outside the house
Yup, and here we are...
I had a couple of mates in SA over 30 years ago who used to go to sporting events, mainly football, every weekend and fill bags of empty beer cans. They made a good amount of money on people's drunken waste, back when they were 5c per can.
That is different, though. They weren't buying the original product. Therefore, anything they deposited was pure profit.
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Everything rose by at least 20c at the time aswell.
30c
That's a fair way to look at it and I think its great they are trying to get you to return cans for recycling, I just wish they could make it slightly easier could also be teething issues with the scheme in VIC
This! It’s literally just a small reward for recycling. Clowns out here acting like it should be a new way of making fast bank.
It’s a penalty for those who don’t have time, transport etc to take their now more expensive empty bottles to redeem a 10c refund.
Can’t win em all
I thought it is for the environment
They are actually primarily "anti litter" schemes, the recycling was purely a secondary consideration historically. Obviously the recycling has become more of a focal point now, but in the past it was to incentivise people picking up litter or penalise those who do litter in a subtle way. It also puts the cost of dealing with the containers at the feet of the manufacturers. If you put them in the Yellow Bin, it is the ratepayer who is generally paying for them to be recycled at that point. Another subtle bonus is that less containers in yellow bins means that the yellow bins overall as less contaminated or mixed. Because the container deposits provide mostly pre-sorted waste streams, less energy is spent on decontamination or sorting later.
I work at a small local bar and we have one kid that comes in every week to grab our used cans from us. According to his dad he's making $40 a week going around to all the local businesses go grab their cans. So not only are all these businesses properly recycling their cans, but this 10 year old kid is making a killing and learning what a bit of hard work can do for him. I think it's a great program.
That's awesome and I agree with the benefits of the program being there, especially for those with spare time who want to make some extra money. My issue is more with the slow and broken reverse vending machines making the process feel pointless due to how slow it can be
I grew up in Germany where we had a container deposit scheme since 2003. I always collected my bottles and cans when I lived there and I still do so when I visit now. BUT it is 25 cents (€), roughly 40c (AUD). So you get 4 times as much back AND you can return your containers at any retailer that sells bottles or cans. Here it’s a massive pain in the arse to even find a place to take them. I don’t drive 6k just to return 10 cans for 60c. Is a really badly implemented system imho.
Pfand is like investing in future beers, so good
I grew up in California and had container deposits since 1988. Every major supermarket car park had a couple of shipping containers in the far corner with an attendant who weighed your cans and bottles and handed you cash. In and out in 5 -10 minutes. Now, I live in a regional town with a population of 15,000, and the closest kiosk is a 50km round trip. I would bet 90% of the population just puts the deposit bottles in the council bin rather than spend 90 minutes plus fuel to redeem the deposit, so it is essentially a new tax imo.
I can remember back in the day, we would take bags of cans to a metal recycling place. Whatever we collected during the year was what we got to spend at the RNA Exhibition on showbags/junk food.
We used to have this in Darwin back in the 80’s, I’m pretty sure south Australia had it too. As kids, lots of people had these huge hessian bags with metal frames in their yard to hold the cans. We’d go around collecting cans until it was full and then take it to the depot for weighing. I think it was 5c per can back then. We would crush the cans to fit more in the big bag, which was probably 1m2 wide and 1.5m high.
Population of Cali? 38.9 million. I reckon leverage applies there. Things will get better in Aus when we’re overcrowded as fuck
Iceland, population \~380,000, runs a good and easy to use container deposit scheme. Same for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Germany (though of course, with larger populations). It might be easier with a bigger population, but it's not necessarily the causation of better systems.
Yeah my point was sorta along the lines of people per area, yet I started getting tired
Yeah o remember doing it in Germany years ago. Would just take empties to supermarket and get price return on your next shop. Was amazing.
Same system in Czechia. And IMO, having a standardised beer bottle that can be refilled by any brewery is preferable to having to remelt the glass. Pretty sure that Pilsner is the only exception (not sure in Germany). Probably because most of it is exported. Every other brewer uses generic 500ml brown bottle and sticks their own label on.
>having a standardised beer bottle that can be refilled by any brewery is preferable to having to remelt the glass 100% this. Glass recycling requires a tremendous amount of energy, simply reusing costs a lot lot lot less
*since 2003* I lived in NRW in the early 90s and it was alive and happening then. I remember the return vending machines at high-end supermarkets, as well as being able to take beer botles to any Imbiss. Crazy that Australia is still struggling with this shit 30+ years down the line.
Yeah .. South Australia has had the scheme for decades also although I don't think the rebate has changed much in that entire time .. this is where the 10c benchmark has come from. Probably set when this represented 20% or more of the value of the bottle. I agree it should be more.
In SA you could just drive in with your boot filled with those plastic checkered bags of crushed cans and they’d do all the counting for you. Haven’t used the new machines here in VIC and doubt I will now after reading all this
i dont understand why the can can't be crushed. why does a label need to be scanned? just give 10 cents for a can and leave it at that...
Excellent and perfekt use of the word "arse" mein freund
Adelaide has this scheme for decades and its somehow even worse than what Vic has now. Used to live in the Adelaide CBD and there was not a single location to return cans.
The one I used to go to on Churchill road isn’t too far from CBD at all
If you really don't care about getting the refund I suggest contacting a local community group to see if you can drop the recycling off to them and they can take it to the sorting centre and keep the funds. Most sports clubs, Rotary, scouts etc would probably be happy to accept a bag or two from you regularly. I was at a collection centre last week on a weekday, and we had to wait a while because they were processing $200 worth of cans and bottles from the cricket club..
This is a good idea! I've just been giving mine to friends if they ask, otherwise they just end up in the recycling bin as usual (the cans and bottles - not my friends).
I'm going to look into doing this from now on, thanks for the recommendation
This is the way. I don’t see the value in me personally doing it, but I don’t want see this stuff go to waste. Lucky for me my neighbour collects them to pass onto a charity, so I can just jump the fence and drop them off.
Do you have any niblings or neighbour kids who could get excited about a bit of extra pocket money?
Our workplace has set up a bin just for the recyclables, and they'll empty as required and donate the funds to various charities. Worth looking into for those who work somewhere that would accommodate this.
100% this. Our household is too busy with more immediate priorities to be able to get to a vending machine, but we're more than happy to set aside recyclables and let others in the community take them off our hands.
The revrse vending machines are actually pretty quick. I did about 25 bucks worth and they all went in one after the other as fast as I could put them in. The problem is that they are always broken or full or have a massive queue. If you can get to a depot it's much faster, but last time I went to my depot the machgine was broken and they were doing it all manually so there was another queue. The system is OK overall, it's just that the companies operating the system are completely incompetent. They can't empty their machines, they can't repair them, they can't handle the number of customers they have. If the machines and depot worked properly, it would be so much easier.
What about the pile of empty boxes you see around them?
How is it OK? Before the scheme containers were 10-15c cheaper and you could recycle in the comfort of your own home.
Prices went up 15c for the scheme. 10c goes back to you, 5c is for administration (collection points, trucks, etc). It was never a way for you to make money.
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So they went up in Vic. Before this was our can of coke cheaper than SA which has had this scheme for years?
Dunno about SA, but slabs of cans were cheaper in Vic than NSW before we got the scheme.
Yeah I'd be interested to see what the proportion that get returned through the scheme is on average. Say it's 40%, then they're only paying out 4c out of every 15c. If it does really cost them 5c in administration, they're making a profit of 6c per unit sold, which soon adds up!
Generally not, the cost for councils and State Governments to deal with the litter caused by containers is eclipsed by the amount they get from the scheme. It is a subtle incentive for people to return the containers, and a subtle disincentive for throwing them away (as litter or in landfill). The manufacturer/seller pays the fee upfront, if the container doesn't get returned, the Government gets the fee (from my understanding). They are then meant to use that money to either invest more into the scheme (making it more attractive or easier) or use it to combat the litter and landfill problems caused by the unreturned containers. In Queensland the fee is also slightly different for different types of containers, so there are slight incentives for manufacturers to try to use containers that attract a smaller fee (in my opinion, unsure if this is how it works in practice).
It’s early stage. We only have it for like couple of months? Perhaps in time there’ll be more machines and depots etc. Just like there’s 7/11 in every block or something. It’s possible. Also, I don’t think it’s mean to make you make profit, just encouraging to reclycle “for the future” or whatever that is.
Nothing will beat not having the scheme at all. Back then containers were 15c ea cheaper and we could recycle them at home.
My 12 year old son has collected nearly $60 over Christmas and New year's taking our cans and bottles back for refunds. That's not a complete waste of time.
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It’s others waste so no they wouldn’t be $60 up
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That we (and he) collected, so became ours. I didn't say we bought them all. When we had a party, some people byo'd. When we went to the boxing day test, my son collected a few. When we went to local cricket, my son collected about 30 bottles/drink containers $3 worth. The vast majority were mine, the stuff I'm buying isn't any more expensive for me. I can't speak for everyone else. I had 3 cartons of beers from craft cartel which I snagged for $35 each, for example.
I'm glad it wasn't a waste of time for him and that he got some sweet money from it! I have been disappointed with my experiences with the reverse vending machines near me though, especially when they are often filled or broken when I finally have the time off uni and work to drive to one on the weekend.
We don't use the vending machines. We go to a place where people do it for us.
I live in a place where there has been a deposit on bottles for as long as I can remember. There are next-to-no empties the streets/parks/road verges. Those on low income (think: homeless) have an incentive to tidy up. Local sports groups and service organizations do ‘bottle drives’ where they collect them from homes as fund-raisers. How good is that?
It's been a thing in SA since the 70s Cleanest state in the country ever since.
An amazing incentive to tidy up and I hope VIC gets to that stage someday, right now my experiences with the reverse vending machines have just been incredibly slow and tedious. I hope it gets ironed out and the process becomes faster and easier for those with limited time/access to depots
We collect cans, too. I've got $100 on 2 trips. We drink a lot of Pepsi Max and water. We went to a different collection this time. This one, you don't have to sort it yourself. A machine does it for you. The one closer to our house just recently shut, so I assume it'll be chaos next time we go again. Just have patience.
We started saving them when they announced the scheme, taken in $300 worth of cans so far.
Hell yeah, that's a solid return. I think I'll try for a different location/depot next time and wait it out
Our local exchange point has a mass drop spot. we keep them in black bags that we duct tape the tops, untill we have 15 bags or so. and we just open the bags into typical garbage bins, (like your home council ones) and they do the rest. Returned $1100 worth last year, chistmas to christmas
Where do you find space to store 15 full garbage bags as they accumulate?
we store them in an empty trailer Thats why we tape the ends, so that we dont get any nasties going in them
Sounds like it uses a shitload of space and single use soft plastic.
I see no downside to it. Most of my family currently just donates all of them to me 7 year old niece, she's raking in the pocket money haha - Encourages recycling - Gives people of extreme low socio-economic situations (such as homeless) a method of income + kids - Price of the products goes up, will hopefully push less people to consume them. All of the products that give refunds aren't drinks you should be consuming frequently if at all. You could try to make an argument for bottled water but you shouldn't buy bottled water in any sort of bulk either. - Keeps cities cleaner, I've seen so many people stopping to pick up bottles since the scheme started. I understand ya frustration with the vending machines, but it's very early days. Give them time to sort it out, if you can't justify the effort (nor can I) then donate ya bottles/cans to a family member or local community hub instead.
I have done the scheme in both Qld and Wa, In QLD they offer a drive in depot where you can back up to the machine. They also offer a drop off where you can drop off your bottles and cans and they will just credit your bank account. The longest I sat in line there was about 15 minutes. In WA, I have only really seen a drive in depot where someone will then count all the bottles and cans and sort them by hand. The longest wait for this service was about half an hour. It’s also worth saving as much bottles and cans and take it in one trip, I usually go every 4 months or so and get about $50-$70 back. For a small amout of work it’s worth it. I think Victoria have really rushed the scheme and should have looked to the other states and territorys and taken notes on how they operate the scheme.
This is Aussie states and politicians for you though. They all have such an inferiority/little sibling complex, they refuse to copy someone. Always trying to prove themselves that they can do it better. Look at Victoria's PT ticketing.
Find a bulk return depot. There’s one on Racecourse road in Altona. You literally drive up, dump all your cans and bottles in a hopper and it processes the lot. At the end you get a receipt for the value of your cans/bottles and they convert it to cash on the spot. No need for an app. I’ve been to this one 3 times now. In and out in 5 minutes. It is very well run. https://maps.app.goo.gl/DQXj9tuobKcGrwbD9
We picked up 8 bucks worth of cans off the side of 4x4 tracks in one day over christmas..kept the kids entertained and they got a bit of money to keep them motivated to keep at it next time
Slightly off topic, but I wanted to share this video of a Victorian man’s quest to collect bottles and return them to NSW like the plot from a Seinfeld episode: https://youtu.be/PwgT-bm-dP4?si=5tbCQauA7eyc4mV-
I love Beau!! He has such a great outlook on life while also shining a light on how absurd modern life can be. His video is what originally got me interested in the deposit scheme and how much one can make for collecting waste
Going by some of the answers here it seems people are not realising they are paying for that 10c at the point of sale. Anyone recycling is not making money, they are only re-claiming the 10c per container they paid at the point of sale. 10c that you didn't have to pay 6 months ago.
I think it’s an extra 15c because the middleman takes a cut.
That would be right. Scumbags.
South Australia has had this for years, to their credit it kept the homeless in Rundle mall busy collecting cans/bottles all day so they had enough money to eat. The area is a lot cleaner too.
It's great a pure less contaminated recycle waste stream. Love it, the streets are clean as the kids collect them.
Ours works great because they aren’t the vending machines. We just tip ours out on the turntable, the cans etc go on to a conveyer belt to be sorted and we get the cash. Only takes minutes. Best thing ever.
that sounds so satisfying, I'll do some looking and see if I can find one like that near me!
There’s one in Melton like that. We save up bottles and cans and my elderly parents take them down every couple of months for a little extra cash. If it wasn’t for the manned counter, they wouldn’t be able to figure out the machines, let alone stand in a long queue and take an hour or so to get to the machine in the first place.
South Australia has been doing it for years with no issue
The rollout in Melb hasn’t been great. We drove around to multiple vending machines and all were full. They need more of them!! Or empty them more often
System might have to iron out a few kinks before the groove is found. It's doing something good for our environment...
Why couldn't the money have just been spent improving our current recycling system... You know, where we put all the other recyclables, the recycling bin that is efficiently picked up on mass every fortnight. Rather than this convoluted, taxed, fucked up system of collecting cans then fucking around trying to get a few $ back. Another stupid scheme that too many smooth brained Greenies thought was great and no one with any critical thinking skills intervened before it got implemented.
Sheeple are money driven. Let them eat cake if cake is what they want... Look something shiny! It breaks up the monotony
Its Been 10c in SA for 30 years. Definitely needs to be at least 25c these days.
It was 5c until 2008, so only 15 years.
In SA it was 5c for most containers, with 10c and 20c for larger sized bottles. In 2008 it all went to 10c.
All that means is a 30c tax on every single bottle. The money doesn't come from no where.
You get the money back if you're not lazy. So yeah I guess its a lazy tax
What a dumb concept though, "you get the money back if you aren't lazy"... How about we just don't take the money from us in the first place and we put our recycling in the recycling bin like everything else.
Because its been proven that people dont recycle without an incentive
Proven by who? Everyone I know uses their recycling bin...
The scheme is actually to stop littering. Or to get people to pick up litter. That's why glass jars aren't included for example. Because they're not thrown out car windows.
My biggest gripe is all the people now rummaging through my recycling bins at 2am on bin day for any cans and leaving a goddamn mess on my verge…
We supply our crew with bottled water and go through about 2 pallets worth a month over summer. I start work an hour early and go straight to the machine and cash them in, takes 2 of us about an hour to do just over a thousand bottles. The only annoying bit is they don't take 2ltr bottles.
It’s really good that you can do that. I had a friend (in nsw) that worked at a restaurant and would save the cans and bottles from that. Went with her one day to cash them in and she got $120 from it. I’m unsure how long she’d been storing them up for but that’s a pretty nice bonus.
My issue with the machine is because you cant crush the bottles, it fills up easily. I'm lucky that I live close by to a can recycling depot
I enjoy doing it, we’ve worked out the best time to go and can check on the app if it’s opening, full or broken. I stock up before going but nothing crazy, maybe $15 worth (which is easy cause dad’s a drinker). I’ve made $110 since it started which is pretty good. I will say though, I have quite a few machines around that I can go to Edit because I though I wrote it but I didn’t, I also take grandparents as well which adds up
So far I’ve found it to be good. I’ve got a depot down the road and have done 2 trips first one $50 and second one $25. Fairly quick and the staff were really helpful. Nice to get some extra cash
We used the vending machines at Wyndham and I was impressed. Firstly, by how well the machines worked, and it was great to see people who were hustling for Coles vouchers and whatever with bags of bottles that had once been probably been lying in a gutter. Anything that encourages some actual recycling I thnk is great. Our 20 minutes of throwing houshold bottles into the chute garnered $5 to the account, that paid for bread and milk the next day, and kept the circular economy chugging along.
I've got an idea for a new scheme. Everyone puts their recyclables in a big bin, then every two weeks a truck could come and collect the bin.
They’ve also made it really hard if you don’t drive. I’ve been collecting bottles in my garage to take to a vending machine on the bus but if the only one in my area is broken, which people say it often is, I guess I just lug them all back home again and give up
Not only are we all paying extra on those items and often the 10c. Then you have to drive to a depot using fossil fuels you then need to hope is machines at the depot are working All along the recycle truck still comes along and picks up your recycle bin again using fossil fuels. So we pay more for the item , we then store the cans , then jump in the car to redeem our 10 cents and then we watch the recycle truck still driving around as per normal How the hell did anyone think this was a good idea. I know Cole’s and Woolies as they can bump up prices more than the 10 c to increase their staggering profits
I've just used one of the brand new ones in my area. Went through 91 beer bottles in about 2 mins. Granted there were 2 of us alternating feeding them in I was actually impressed at how quickly it went and how little issues we had, only 2 were rejected which we then scanned at the end and both went through
Since finding an older guy going through our recycling to get our cans and bottles, I now just leave mine seperate in a cardboard box next to our recycling bin… I can’t be bothered taking them to the depot and if he wants to then he can go for it! They’re gone every other day.
This is probably the way to recycle given the current system. Thanks for the tip!
ummm it's not to make money.. it's a "refund" scheme. You pay an extra 10c.. take your cans back.. get 10c \*refunded\*. Think of it, as getting a fuzzy warm feeling that you are helping to recycle. A lot of the waste that gets put in yellow bins end up in landfill because one dickhead in your suburb decide to hide a nappy in their yellow bin. Scheme is to help recycle... and one way to get people involved is to give them $$$ back, even if it just cents.
Look, I get it’s annoying and doesn’t feel incentivising, but I also see heaps of recycling bins effectively contaminated with people being either uneducated or lazy with regard to what can and can’t be recycled. If this reduces the amount of recyclables that ends up in landfill, I think it’s a net positive. I’ll also acknowledge that I haven’t seen verification that it does actually get recycled but that’s another discussion
OP, if you are near Williams Landing I'll take what you've got as I use it to pay for stuff for my students 😉
It's not available yet in Melbourne, but there may be are places like this that are available https://re-collect.com.au/containers-for-change/ They will collect them from your house and deposit them for you (and take a cut but you won't have to wait in line)
Can you go late at night or not on the weekends? Just choose a lesson busy/popular time and it may be a quicker process
You can't go at night. The machines have "opening hours" and only operate during these times (when they're not broken or full). Why do automated machines have opening hours? Maybe they have to pay them overtime to work after 7pm or something...
Last time I returned my cans/bottles I got about $200 back, but this was about 2 carloads. You can also contact scouts and they'll drop off a bin for you to collect your bottle etc in and you then contact them when it's full to come and collect, they'll drop off an empty one for you.
Have you considered offerring your empties to someone who would spend the hour of their day if they could snag $50
I’m waiting for a local community group to ask if they can collect mine. For the $3.00 or so per month it won’t be worth my while but for say the scouts, girl guides, rotary, school or local church I will happily drop them off. Until then it’s in the recycling bin they go.
We went to an in person one today and they were at capacity
My opinion is its a bit of a shit show. So many obstacles. Find an open (and not full) machine, and how do you get to one if you dont drive?, dont crunch the cans (what if you have limited space), download and signup to an app (why?). In the Netherlands, in the early 90’s, any supermarket had a little machine in the store, you take your bottles, get the credit for that store and shop. Easy, convenient, and allows you to take back just a 4 or 5 if you want. Also, each bottle (eg 1.25 Coke, or 33cl beer) is cleaned and refilled 20 times. Not used- melted- used for something new. Australia really over complicates so many things.
Woolies here raised the price of drinks by 15 cents just before it started.
When I was a kid in Vic, it was 20c a bottle. Used to go collect them before the garbos got there. Garbos didn’t like this. You could take them to the milk bar for money back. So 50 years later it’s gone down to 10c. 2024 Everyday I go past the reverse vending machine and check to see if I can drop my little collection off. I’ve only been able to recycle them on 2 occasions it’s always bloody full already.
My local refund station is sitting in a car park wired up to a portable generator. I'm guessing this costs more than any return value on the containers. Secondly, out of four machines only one was working. Put a plastic bottle in and it spat it out and said Glass only. Put all my shit back in the car and drove home laughing at how bad this is.
im hoping there’s fewer plastic bottles in my neighbourhood creek.
I live in a town of 3400 people. Everytime I take my cans to the depot it is full or out of order. The operator was there the other day and it was frustrating for him. It was reading full and when he opened it there was a small wheelie bin inside with half shredded cans.( not even compacted). It was half full. He emptied it and tried again. This time it said it needed cleaning. He opened the door again and sprayed the screen with windex and cleaned it. It worked then. It’s a terrible system. Another massive waste of money. One of the local publicans was in front of me in the cue. He had hundreds of cans.
I drove around 4 different sites on Saturday because of this - the site was either too crowded, or machine was already full. Really hope they open up more locations.
Can't work out why the eastern staters are having so much trouble with this. We've had it for 50 years or so in SA and it works fine. Stick with it, it's not that hard and your natural environment will be heaps cleaner at the end of it!
I would think that as demand builds they will get better machines and lots more of them
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Raiden, turn the game console off right now! The mission is a failure! Cut the power right now!
What a whingefest
My family has made about $500 since the rebate. The OP is clearly not doing it right and does not understand the point. Pick your times. It’s not hard to come back another time.
I'm trying my best man
The whole thing is dumb. People are still going to litter when they’ve just spent $100 on a carton of Jim beam or whatever. As if they care about the $2.40 and effort it takes to deal with the empties, the grubs will be grubs regardless. It’s just created an unnecessary industry and passed the cost on to consumers, where most people were doing the right thing before anyway and putting their stuff in the recycling bin, mine still go in the there, I can’t be stuffed wasting my time and fuel to get a couple of dollars.
Data shows recycling is increased when a container recycling incentive scheme is introduced
The "data"... Probably sponsored by your local can recycling centre.
And others will pickup said litter. It’s been shown to work.
When you factor in fuel and time there is no incentive for most people to do this. It might be good for homeless people to make money and clean up the streets…but why would they do that when they could make more sitting outside Coles. Also, you would assume that anyone doing this scheme would likely have been the type to do the right thing with their recycling previously anyway. I don’t really see how it results in any positive change.
I've started picking up loose cans and bottles that I find around the street and chuck them in my pile for refund. Granted it's only a few, but it still is happening.
I do this too and yeah it's only a few but if there's a few of us doing it, it all helps right? I've been surprised at how much litter there is in nature strips - which admittedly I didn't notice as much until that litter ended up looking like money. The scheme works for me. I've said it on every post about it but I'll say it again. I collect my own cans/bottles of which I have a fair few. I live in a unit complex with about 12 recycling bins so I have a box there for people to chuck their bottles into and go through them. Pick up litter on the side of the road sometimes. On recycling bin night, I go through the bins up my street while I take my doggo for a walk. I have another neighbour who brings me a tub full and work are also collecting for me. Nobody has minded so far, I'm neat with it, if I remove anything to get to cans I'll put it back. If anything, it's made me talk to more of my neighbours which I think is a plus. In my personal situation I struggle socially (I have autism) and with my mental health and leaving the house so it's a good incentive to get out of the house which I don't do enough sometimes. Plus I feel like I'm doing something for the community, the environment and myself. I think that's a really great thing as I'm sure I'm not the only one in that position. It'll be interesting to see stats come out on it when its' been going for longer. I made $40 last time and I need to go again at the moment (running out of storage space now!), hoping to get to $50 as I feel like I have more than last time. I use it as fun money. Some might use it to help with bills. Every bit helps.
Homeless were already doing that. Cans were still worth something prior to this, but more like 1-2c~ a can just based on their aluminium.
Scheme is bullshit. A mere 10c price increase represents a 20% to 30% jump in cogs. Oh, I also have to pay above that 10c to keep the scheme running. It’s just a money grab by my government shitheads. I bet only a handful of bottles are recycled
I've only ever seen a line once and I just drove to another depot that had no lines. I think the machines work well. Never had a problem. I di agree with the point regarding the price increase. Bottles have gone up more than 10 cents, and not even half of the bottles would be recycled. Who's making profit here?
Of course it doesn’t work, the state government was involved with its implementation.
Imo it should have been more than 10c The amount is pitiful
*\[old man story mode, activated\] ...* Back in my day, the can recycling program was based on weight, not per item.
I really think it’s time we change the sub’s name to r/whingewhingewhinge It’s all I ever seen to see on here of late.. Wasn’t this supposed to be fun?
Lmao, sorry I defintley see that this post seems whingey in hindsight. Glad I could get some perspective on the program though and other ways to deposit schemes are ran
Sorry that wasn’t totally directed at you. More of a general observation. For what it’s worth I’ve had a great experience going to the one in my neighbourhood on weekdays if I’m off work. Even when a guy had a literal van-load (said he owned a bar), I didn’t have to wait that long. If you ask me anything that gets peoplewho usually wouldn’t to do the right thing is a good thing
It's a shit scheme. It benefits literally no one while we're stuck paying an extra 10c at the checkout and then making the choice of either fuckarsing around storing a tub or bag of containers for a month, in space that we DIDN'T have to waste prior because we could put those containers in a recycling bin, only to then pop that tub or bag in the car along with the ants and wasps, to go to a collection point we have to queue at at best, or find another if it's out of order. Any they say we were consulted in this? Bullshit. And as usual those who are frail, elderly or disabled have another chore they need help with, or just use their existing recycle bin and face the price rise (that they already can't afford). The only thing this scheme has done is make me turn to 1.25 and 2L plastic. Great job assclowns, we had an infrastructure to recycle the ever so incredibly recyclable aluminium can, and you've just turned me to plastic. Anyone that thinks this beats the existing curbside we had is a moron. I've heard people say "It's because some people didn't recycle properly" Well spot checks fixes that, not inventing a new bullshit scheme at multi millions of dollars. Remember it's not just the 10c, we're all paying for this in taxes too.
I saw many ppl bringing cartons of bottles over the machines 🤣🤣🤣
You only make money if you didn’t buy the cans and bottles etc….. How long til our recycle bins go missing in the night?
Get a sodastream or similar - problem solved
Would be keen to put my recyclables in a container on the street and have council pick them up. Maybe they could reduce the rates by a couple hundred dollars a year and they can claim the money back? I’m a fan of recycling (actually reduce and reuse above that) but this scheme is ridiculous for many reasons.
The worst planned and operated container deposit scheme in Australia. A typical Lie-bor stuff up.
Just fuckin' kill the scheme and put the prices back down to where they were; thaaanks! It's vomitous how the cunts force the public into these holes...
Just put the cunts in your recycling and be done with it.
... The local bottle shop has a notice advising that prices have increased due to this scheme. Wtf
Of course. It’s a deposit refund so yes the prices must increase accordingly.