Over 600 new Victorian jobs are set to be created through the state government’s new Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic), which is expected to halve the state’s litter when it launches this November.
CDS Vic will allow people to return their used drink cans, bottles, and cartons for a 10-cent refund, which can be claimed from refund points planned across regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.
VicReturn will serve as the project’s Scheme Coordinator. Meanwhile, zone operators TOMRA Cleanaway, Visy, and Return-It will establish and oversee the refund points and ensure proper recycling.
Each operator will be responsible for the collection point network in their allocated scheme zones: north, east, and west.
TOMRA Cleanaway alone will deliver up to 200 new jobs across the west zone, creating roles such as sales staff, technicians, collections drivers, refund point operator staff, and recycling facility operators.
“TOMRA Cleanaway’s ‘West Zone’ for CDS Vic builds on the community’s existing exceptional environmental commitments. We have tasked ourselves with providing meaningful and skilled circular economy jobs across the ‘West Zone’ of CDS Vic that fulfil a diverse range of tasks and ultimately achieve positive social, environmental and economic benefits to all,” said James Dorney, CEO of TOMRA Cleanaway.
Within the scheme’s first year of operation, Zone Operators will be required to have at least one collection point per 14,500 people in metropolitan areas, one per town of 750 people in regional areas, and one per town of 350 people in remote areas.
People can return eligible containers to four refund points: reverse vending machines, depots, over-the-counter sites, and pop-up points.
“From the beginning of November, the Container Deposit Scheme will put money in the pockets of Victorians, while also helping to clean up the state and deliver far-reaching environmental benefits,” said Minister for Environment Ingrid Stitt during her visit to TOMRA Cleanaway’s Clayton depot.
Eighty reverse vending machines are already being rolled out across Victoria ahead of CDS Vic’s launch later this year.
“CDS Vic is set to deliver more jobs and strengthen Victoria’s economy, while drastically reducing the waste that ends up in our environment,” said Member for Oakleigh Steve Dimopoulos.
