{"id":34669,"date":"2025-09-03T12:01:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T02:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=34669"},"modified":"2025-09-03T12:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T02:01:55","slug":"states-join-forces-to-expand-container-deposit-schemes-to-accept-wine-and-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/09\/03\/states-join-forces-to-expand-container-deposit-schemes-to-accept-wine-and-spirits\/","title":{"rendered":"States join forces to expand container deposit schemes to accept wine and spirits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a major boost to recycling efforts across New South Wales and South Australia, each state\u2019s container deposit scheme is set to expand to accept wine and spirit bottles and larger drink containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The container deposit scheme \u2013 which is now active in every state and territory \u2013 is the most successful recycling program in Australia\u2019s history and is also incredibly popular with more containers collected every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each state\u2019s recycling scheme has already seen billions of eligible bottles and cans recycled \u2013 tackling litter, reducing pressure on landfills and rewarding people for their recycling behaviours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now even more residents and businesses will benefit from the 10-cent refund for returning a wider range of bottles and containers, while making it a smoother transition for industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The expansion across both states will see nearly half a billion additional beverage containers returned each year, saved from landfill and sent for recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each container deposit program will grow to include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wine and spirits glass bottles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cordials and juice concentrate containers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Larger containers of up to three litres of beverages that are already in the scheme, like flavoured milk, fruit and vegetable juice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Plain milk and health tonic containers will continue to be excluded from the schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These new containers will not be accepted at refund points immediately, giving the wine and spirits industry time to adjust and allowing collection points and systems to ramp up for the additional new containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New South Wales and South Australia will enact these changes by late-2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Queensland has already integrated glass wine and spirit bottles into their container deposit scheme. Western Australia committed to expanding their scheme during their recent state election. The Northern Territory has also recently announced it will bring in legislation to expand its scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the states work together to implement these changes, people are encouraged to keep recycling these containers through their kerbside bins, until collection points are ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SA and NSW will be jointly inviting peak bodies representing key industries to further engagement on implementing these changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor almost half a century, South Australia has led the nation on container deposit legislation. It\u2019s been an incredible success story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow it is time to take the next step, and to do so in a coordinated way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEach year around 660 million drink containers (about 40,000 tonnes) are returned by South Australians for refund and recycling, preventing those containers from being littered or sent to landfill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe expect that number to increase once these changes take effect \u2013 delivering further financial benefit to community groups, sporting clubs and charities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NSW Minister for Environment Penny Sharpe said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Container Deposit Scheme is fantastic for the environment, great for our recycling industry and also puts money back in people\u2019s pockets. It\u2019s also incredibly popular with more and more items collected every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy expanding to include more types of beverages, it\u2019s estimated at least 27,000 tonnes of materials will be saved from landfill each year in NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really important that people don\u2019t try to take their wine bottles to a Return and Earn machine tomorrow. We\u2019re working with industry to ensure a smooth transition and to ensure return systems will be ready to handle the new containers by mid-2027.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>South Australian Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate, Environment and Water Susan Close said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeverage container glass in the kerbside recycling system is problematic. Just 11 per cent of the nearly 36,000 tonnes of glass containers put in the kerbside co\u2011mingled recycling bins in SA makes it back to a glass container each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy comparison, of the 42,000 tonnes of glass containers received by CDS collection depots in SA, 99 per cent of that glass is recovered for local bottle manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy making the container deposit scheme simpler, we reduce confusion about what\u2019s included and what\u2019s not. It will also help to keep glass out of landfill and support local remanufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve listened to industry concerns, particularly from smaller wine producers, and we will continue to engage closely with them as reforms roll out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe will assist the wine and spirit industry with this transition and will work with the industry to ensure the least cost, simplest approach possible, with a special focus on assisting smaller operations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a major boost to recycling efforts across New South Wales and South Australia, each state\u2019s container deposit scheme is set to expand to accept wine and spirit bottles and larger drink containers. The container deposit scheme \u2013 which is now active in every state and territory \u2013 is the most successful recycling program in &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/09\/03\/states-join-forces-to-expand-container-deposit-schemes-to-accept-wine-and-spirits\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;States join forces to expand container deposit schemes to accept wine and spirits&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34670,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34669\/revisions\/34670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}