Have you ever wondered what happens to your drink cans, bottles and cartons after you return them for a 10-cent refund through Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic)?
With National Recycling Week (10–16 November) just around the corner, CDS Vic shares what happens next, and how every returned container helps power Victoria’s circular economy.
This year’s theme, Join the Cycle, perfectly aligns with the mission of CDS Vic: keeping eligible drink containers in the recycling loop so they can be remade into new products again and again.
“National Recycling Week is a timely reminder of our shared commitment to a more sustainable Victoria,” said Marianne Doyle, Interim CEO of VicReturn, the coordinator of CDS Vic.
“Recycling eligible drink containers means fewer virgin materials are needed to make new bottles and cans, reducing our impact on the environment,” she said.
The recycling process begins when Victorians return their drink containers at one of the hundreds of refund points across the state. From there, they’re sorted by material type and sent to recycling facilities to be processed back into new products.
Here’s where your containers go next:
Plastic bottles are sorted by material type (PET, HDPE and others) and recycled at facilities in Victoria. They’re cleaned, shredded into flakes, melted down, extruded and turned into pellets, then used to make new products.
Glass bottles are cleaned and sorted by colour into glass cullet, at facilities in Victoria and South Australia. The cullet is then sent to glass manufacturing plants in Victoria and South Australia that use it in the production of new glass bottles and jars.
“Glass can be infinitely recycled, so returning your glass bottles through CDS Vic helps conserve our natural resources,” Mrs Doyle said.
Aluminium cans are bailed before being shipped overseas to be reprocessed into aluminium coils. These are returned to Australia where they are used to make new drink cans.
Since launching in November 2023, CDS Vic has helped Victorians recycle more, reduce litter and keep valuable materials out of landfill. Victorians have returned 2.3 billion drink containers, earning $230 million in refunds.
CDS Vic proudly supports Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week, which has encouraged Australians since 1996 to reduce, reuse and repurpose their waste.
Join the cycle this National Recycling Week by collecting and returning eligible drink containers for a 10-cent refund at your nearest refund point. Visit cdsvic.org.au to learn more.
