The region's first container deposit scheme recycling machine has been installed in an eye-catching location in Buninyong.
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The bright blue and orange recycling plant, which will return 10c for each carton, glass or plastic bottle fed into it, popped up last week in the car park of Buninyong's Foodworks supermarket.
The shipping-container sized depot is one of many that will be installed across the city in the coming months, before Victoria's container deposit scheme comes in to effect on November 1.
About 600 collection points will be set up across the state. Although the number of units to be installed across Ballarat, and their locations, is unknown at this stage they will be on private or state-owned land, rather than council-owned property.
The returned cans, cartons, and bottles will be recycled into new products.
The container deposit scheme brings Victoria into line with other states that run similar schemes, and have done for many years, with Tasmania also scheduled to begin this year.
According to the website of Tomra Cleanaway, the "zone operator" of the scheme in Ballarat and western Victoria, recyclers will be able to claim their refund via a cash voucher for local retailers, direct to their bank or PayPal via a digital app, or donate to a local charity, school, sports or community group.
The container deposit scheme collection point will allow all residents to recycle and collect their refund. Empty containers are inserted into a chute at the front of the machine, which then scans the container to ensure it is eligible for a refund.
Eligible containers include most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid paperboard beverage containers between 150ml and three litres. Containers must not be crushed, and their labels must still be on, to allow the scanner to register the refund.
Items that cannot be recycled through the container deposit scheme include those commonly used at home such as milk containers, wine and spirit bottles, cordial bottles and fruit juice cartons.
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But Ballarat residents will still have to deposit non-eligible glass at the Pass On Glass drop-off sites. These locations across the city have been the only way to recycle glass in the city since 2021.
In April, Victoria's environment minister Ingrid Stitt said a container deposit scheme would halve the amount of plastic waste across the state.
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