On 1 May 2025, the Australian state of Tasmania launched its new container deposit scheme (CDS) to incentivize the return of drink containers for recycling. With all seven other states and territories in the country already offering CDSs, this launch makes Australia the first continent to be fully covered by deposit return. Chris Gingell, TOMRA Vice President of Public Affairs – Pacific, explores the significance of this milestone and the progress of CDS across the country.

Container deposit schemes are known outside Australia as deposit return systems (DRSs). Under a CDS, consumers pay a small deposit on top of the price of a drink, which is refunded when they return the drink container for recycling. By encouraging the return of containers, CDSs drive recycling rates and reduce waste and litter. 

Australia’s container deposit scheme beginnings

South Australia was the first state in Australia to introduce container deposit legislation, launching in January 1977 following the Beverage Container Act 1975, to target litter. This made South Australia the fourth geography in the world to launch a legislated CDS. In 1970, the British Columbia in Canada became the first, through its Litter Act. This was followed by another Canadian province (Alberta) and the US state of Oregon in 1972.

South Australia’s container deposit scheme began with deposit values of AU$0.20 (large containers) and $AU0.10 (small), though this reduced to AU$0.05 with the advent of plastic and non-reusable bottles. In 2003 the CDS expanded to include flavored milk and fruit/vegetable juice, to reflect growing categories for drink consumption. September 2008 saw the deposit value increase to AU$0.10, to adjust for inflation. The South Australia container deposit scheme had a container return rate of 74.7% in 2023-24. According to Keep South Australia Beautiful, beverage containers now represent only 2.9% of litter. South Australia has consulted on expanding the CDS to cover more drink containers.

The Northern Territory came next in January 2012, following the Environment Protection Act (Beverage Containers and Plastic Bags) of 2011, introducing a similar CDS to South Australia. In fact the two geographies signed an agreement in 2011 to align their container deposit schemes, to address border fraud and increasing recovery and recycling while reducing litter. In 2023-2024, the CDS saw 100+ million containers returned. Over 82% of stakeholders surveyed rated the container deposit scheme as “successful” or “very successful”. In 2024, consultation opened on a proposal to expand the scheme to include any recyclable containers with up to three liters of ready-to-drink beverages, including wine.  

The modern wave of container deposit schemes in Australia 

The other six states and territories in Australia have implemented container deposit schemes over the past eight years, in a modern wave incorporating automation for greater convenience for consumers and greater efficiencies for the sites receiving eligible containers back,” elaborates Chris Gingell. This has delivered a range of outcomes in terms of return rates, material recovery and litter reduction: 

• New South Wales: Launched in December 2017, "Return and Earn" saw 1 billion containers returned in its first year alone, and 13 billion by February 2025. The total container return rate rose from 32% in 2017, to 65% in the CDS’s first four months. In the first year, the state’s total litter volume was down 48%, with a 44% reduction in drink container litter (which reached a 73% reduction by April 2025). Consumer research shows 82% of adults participate in the CDS, and 90% support it. As of August 2025, 1.19 million tonnes of materials have been recycled through the CDS, and over AU$72 million donated to charity (donation can take place at a refund point). 700 jobs were created by the CDS as of March 2020. New South Wales has also consulted on expanding the scope of eligible containers.  
• Australian Capital Territory (ACT): Launched in June 2018 (following the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Act 2016), the ACT container deposit scheme has seen 683 million containers returned as of August 2025 (of which 410 million containers came through the network and the rest through the existing curbside system). It has a return rate of 68%, with 70% of adults participating in the CDS, and 90% support. Within five years of launch, the CDS raised AU$130,000 in donations to community groups. The ACT has also proposed expanding the CDS, to include wine, spirits, cordial, concentrates and more.  
• Queensland: Introduced in November 2018, alongside a statewide plastic bag ban, "Containers for Change" aims to reduce litter and increase recycling rates. Five years after launch, in November 2023, Queensland expanded its system to include wine and spirits bottles. As of April 2025, 10 billion containers have been returned through the CDS, achieving a 67.5% return rate. 1581 jobs had been created for the Queensland CDS by mid-2024. 
• Western Australia: Also known as “Containers for Change”, the Western Australian CDS launched in October 2020. Within three years, 3.5 billion containers were collected, and AU$13 million donated to charity. Over 890 jobs have been created for Western Australia’s CDS. Western Australia will also expand its CDS from 1 July 2026, to cover all beverage containers between 150 milliliters and 3 liters, except plain milk and registered health tonics. 
• Victoria: Victorians use over 3 billion drink containers each year. Victoria's container deposit scheme was announced in February 2020 as part of a recycling policy overhaul, and implemented in November 2023. In its first eight months, “CDS VIC” created 597 direct jobs and reached 90% awareness. In the first year, one billion eligible containers were returned and AU$950,000 donated to community groups.  
• Tasmania: On 1 May 2025, Tasmania became the final state in Australia to implement a container deposit scheme, called “Recycle Rewards” and known locally as a container refund scheme (CRS). Tasmania will have a network of 49 conveniently located refund points, featuring over 100 reverse vending machines. In the first four days of the CDS, Tasmanians returned more than 1 million containers. 

New South Wales heralds modern wave of CDS in Australia  

The state of New South Wales pioneered the modern era of deposit return in Australia. This included then-new innovations for the country such as the involvement of retailers as return locations (in which recyclers can use their deposit refund as in-store credit), and automation of returns, with the state today hosting over 1,500 reverse vending machines. 

Return and Earn’s innovations also include a split-responsibility model to divide responsibilities for system administration into two levels. Strong governance helps ensure industry system administrators balance convenience with cost effectiveness, increasing transparency and avoiding potential conflicts of interest. 

TOMRA’s work in Australia container deposit schemes

TOMRA has over 50 years' experience in container deposit schemes, working in over 40 deposit markets, in every part of the value chain. It provides reverse vending machine (RVM) infrastructure and technology at refund points to automate the return of drink containers for recycling, helping power the CDSs in many of these Australian states.  

In New South Wales, TOMRA and joint venture partner Cleanaway (Australia’s leading waste management company) were appointed as network operator for the entire container deposit scheme, providing all the collection, reverse vending refund points and back-end IT technology. In Tasmania, TOMRA has been appointed as the sole provider of reverse vending machines, once again working with Cleanaway. For Victoria, TOMRA Cleanaway provide network operator services for Zones 1 and 4 (Western Regional Victoria and Western Metropolitan Melbourne), approximately one-third of the state in geographic size. TOMRA also operates reverse vending kiosks and/or recycling depots in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and provides bulk collection technology in a recycling depot in South Australia. 

TOMRA Collection is the world’s leading provider of reverse vending technology, with approximately 87,000 installations across more than 60 markets. 

What Australia's container deposit schemes have in common 

There are many commonalities across Australia's eight container deposit schemes:

• Motivation: These programs were introduced with the express intention of reducing litter, along with achieving environmental outcomes such as lifting recycling rates and driving a circular economy. The CDS in Victoria contributes to the state’s target of diverting 80% of all material away from landfill by 2030. New South Wales had experienced 160 million littered drink containers each year, so its CDS had a goal of achieving a 40% litter reduction within three years of launch. Because of that motivation for environmental outcomes, many of these CDSs target drink types/sizes consumed on the go, which are more likely to end up as litter; plain milk, for example, is most often consumed at home, so typically isn’t included among eligible containers.
• Eligible containers/drinks:  
  - Materials: Australia’s CDSs cover plastic and glass bottles, aluminium cans, and liquid paperboard as eligible drink containers – making Australia one of the few countries in the world to include cartons in their CDS. 
  - Sizes: All the CDSs cover containers up to 3 liters in size. In six states and territories, the smallest eligible beverage containers included are 150 milliliters.
  - Beverages: The CDSs all include flavored milk, juice, water, soft drinks / soda, and beer. Typically excluded are spirits, cordial, concentrates, registered health tonics, and plain milk. However, several of Australia’s CDSs currently have proposals to include more types of drinks. 
• Deposit/refund value: All of Australia’s CDSs currently have a deposit refund value of $AU0.10 for each eligible drink container, but this is under consideration to increase, in order to boost return rates and better align with international best practice. 

And what’s different? “Australia’s states and territories have three distinct models for responsibility for the container deposit scheme,” explains Chris Gingell. South Australia and the Northern Territory each have multiple operators responsible for administering the CDSs (known as the scheme coordinator), while Queensland and Western Australia each use one single scheme coordinator. New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory instead employ a split-responsibility model: with a scheme coordinator, plus a “network operator” responsible for running container collection infrastructure. (In all cases, the scheme coordinator is formed by the beverage industry.) South Australia has consulted on draft legislation that would move it toward a single scheme coordinator model.  

Future outlook for Australia container deposit schemes

“Although the main wave of CDS implementation began fairly recently, different states and territories are already looking to the future and how to modernize their container deposit schemes,” shares Chris Gingell. New South Wales, South Australia, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have current proposals to expand their CDSs to include more types of beverages, and Western Australia has confirmed plans to do so. (Queensland has already expanded its system, to include glass wine and spirits bottles. South Australia has previously expanded to include more types of drinks and change its deposit/refund value.) In September 2025, South Australia and New South Wales announced that their CDSs would expand to include wine and spirit bottles by late 2027

Australia’s deposit and refund value for drink containers is a relatively low AU$0.10. This compares to Slovakia’s deposit value €0.15 (approximately AU$0.27), Norway’s 2 NOK (around AU$0.30) for small containers and 3 NOK (AU$0.45) for large containers, and Germany’s €0.25 for single-use containers (AU$0.44).

In terms of widespread deposit return implementation, Australia is ahead of other continents and even other countries with state-led CDSs in terms of widespread deposit return implementation. In Europe, 17 countries have implemented deposit return. However, the EU Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation requires member states to implement DRS by 2029 to meet the region’s targets for separate collection of drink containers. In Africa, only one country (Republic of Seychelles) has a DRS. In Asia, South Korea has a DRS system for reusable glass. Singapore will implement DRS in April 2026, and Hong Kong is preparing for DRS in late 2027 or early 2028. Legislated deposit return schemes are yet to arrive in South America. On a country level, 10 out of 50 states in the US have deposit return (known locally as a “bottle bill”), while 11 out of 13 provinces and territories in Canada have introduced DRS.