Community
11 April, 2024
Successful rollout as Mortlake joins CDS
THE Mortlake community has rallied around the installation of a new reverse vending machine.
The installation is part of the rollout of the Victorian Government’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), which rewards Victorians with a 10-cent refund for every eligible can, carton or bottle returned to the automated machines being rolled out across the state.
Last week network operator of the CDS in the Vic West Zone, TOMRA Cleanaway, officially opened the region’s newest reverse vending machine in Mortlake at 94 Dunlop Street, beside Clarke’s Café.
“A new reverse vending machine for Victoria’s CDS has gone live at Clarke’s Café in Mortlake, giving the residents of Mortlake a convenient and accessible location to make their change with CDS,” a TOMRA Cleanaway spokesperson said.
“Over 7200 containers have already been returned to the Clarke’s Café reverse vending machine since it went live on March 20, meaning more than $720 has been returned to the residents of Mortlake in just two weeks.”
Terang and Cobden were among the initial rollout of communities to receive a reverse vending machine under the CDS in November 2023, both of which have been well supported by the community.
“The reverse vending machines in the nearby towns of Terang and Cobden have proven incredibly popular with users of the scheme, being two of our busiest smaller format machines,” the TOMRA Cleanaway spokesperson said.
“The refund points at Cooinda Terang and Cobden Golf Course have returned over 525,000 and 350,000 containers respectively since the scheme commenced on November 1, 2023.
“TOMRA Cleanaway currently has 161 refund points across the CDS Vic West Zone, with 180 refund points planned to be installed by August of 2024.”
The spokesperson said additional installations would be explored in more south west communities over the coming months.
“At TOMRA Cleanaway we are always reviewing our network of refund points. As consumer demand for additional refund points increases across the West Zone, we will explore additional opportunities,” the spokesperson said.
“As network operator for the CDS Vic West Zone, we are working hard to provide a convenient and accessible refund collection point network.”
To date, TOMRA Cleanaway’s West Zone operation has collected more than 164 million containers, putting more than $16.4 million back into the pockets of Victorians.
All containers returned through the TOMRA Cleanaway collection point network for CDS Vic pass through technology for audit and verification purposes, which achieve clean, source-separated commodities that support Victoria’s transition to a circular economy.
“We encourage customers to download the CDS Vic west zone app at https://tomracleanaway.com.au/victoria/ to check
the live status of our sites prior to leaving home,” the TOMRA Cleanaway spokesperson said.