Victorians have returned more containers than any other scheme in the country in the first year of the Allan Labor Government’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic) – with a billion containers saved from landfill and $100 million back in the pockets of Victorians and charities.

Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos today celebrated the milestone on the one-year anniversary of the CDS Vic at the launch of a new display at Scienceworks that teaches students about the lifecycle of a bottle when returned through the scheme.

Since the scheme started on 1 November last year, more than $950,000 has been raised for charities and community groups thanks to the outstanding efforts of over 4,200 donation partners.

Victorians are recycling an average of 145 containers per return, with more than 26 million containers deposited the week following the AFL Grand Final – the biggest week of returns on record.

Before CDS Vic was launched, drink containers were one of the most littered items in Victoria. Over the past 12 months alone, a staggering one-third of containers have been saved from landfill and recycled through the scheme.

The CDS has already generated 597 direct jobs in Victoria in its first year.  Of all the containers returned since the scheme started, around 50 percent have been aluminium, 30 percent plastic and 17 percent glass – these containers are sorted and recycled into new bottles or other products.

To mark this achievement, CDS Vic has created a ‘Message in a Bottle’ installation at Scienceworks, featuring messages from Victorian primary students inside 320 recycled bottles that highlight the importance of recycling.

Open from 1 November 2024 to 27 January 2025, families are invited to visit the new display and learn more about the process of recycling containers returned through CDS Vic.

It has never been easier to help keep waste out of landfill and litter out of the environment, with Victorians encouraged to continue to recycle their eligible drink containers at any one of the 657 convenient and accessible deposit points across the state.

The Labor Government is driving recycling in Victoria, backed by a $515 million investment to transform the state’s waste and recycling industry – creating more jobs in new industries, cutting waste to landfill, and maximising the value of precious resources.