Queensland Container Refund Scheme

Containers for Change

Queensland's container refund scheme, Containers for Change, gives people an incentive to collect and return containers for recycling, in exchange for a 10-cent refund payment. The scheme helps to:

• reduce the amount of drink containers that are littered; and
• increase Queensland’s recycling rate.

Eligible containers can be dropped off at the Local MAMS depot at 21 Challands Street, Ingham during operating hours:
Monday to Friday 8am – 4pm.

Eligible Containers 

All containers that are bigger than150mL and smaller than 3L are eligible. Below is a list of eligible containers to receive the 10-cent refund payment:

• Aluminum containers such as soft drink or alcoholic beverage cans;

• Glass containers such as wine or spirit bottles;

• Plastic containers such as water or soft drink bottles;

• Steel containers; and

• Liquid paperboard beverage containers such as juice boxes.

All eligible drink containers will display a refund marking ♻️ that will make it easy to see which containers can be returned for a refund.

The below pictures show some of the types of drink containers which are included in the scheme.

Which drink containers are excluded?

A number of drink containers are not eligible for a refund under the scheme. These include:

• Plain milk containers;
• Large containers (1L or more) which have contained flavoured milk, pure juice, cask wine or cask water;
• Cordial or vegetable juice containers; and
• Registered health tonics.

All containers that are smaller than 150mL and bigger than 3L are not eligible for a refund.

The below picture shows some of the types of drink containers which are excluded from the scheme. 

For further information and updates please refer to the Queensland Government website to see the full list of inclusions and exclusions. 

Additional information about the container refund scheme

Queenslanders use close to 3 billion beverage containers every year.

These containers are the second most littered item in the state, despite the fact they can be easily recycled. Beverage container litter is largely associated with drink consumption in open air settings such as parks, beaches, shopping centres, and car parks.

The scheme provides benefits to social enterprises, communities, and regional and remote areas by creating new jobs, recycling and fundraising opportunities.

Queensland’s container refund scheme commenced on 1 November 2018, with more than 330 container refund points in operation across the state. 

• In the first twelve months of the scheme, the MAMS Ingham Depot has received 4.4 million containers.
• Across Queensland more than one billion containers were returned to refund points in the first year, that's roughly 3.4 million containers returned each day.
• As of the 1 November 2019, $100 million has been returned to Queenslanders and community groups through the scheme, resulting in 700 new jobs being created across Queensland.
• Since commencement there has been a 35% reduction in roadside litter recorder.

Queensland’s container refund scheme is known as Containers for Change.

The Scheme is a product stewardship arrangement with the costs of operating the scheme and recovering the containers for recycling, paid for by drink manufacturers. This means that drink manufacturers will take responsibility for ensuring that the environmental impacts from the empty drink containers are reduced.

The Queensland Government has appointed the industry-based, not-for-profit group Container Exchange (CoEx) as the Product Responsibility Organisation (PRO), to develop and run the container refund scheme in Queensland.

The PRO is responsible for ensuring that an effective and efficient scheme operates in Queensland, and that there is convenient and state-wide access to container refund points.

CoEx has been appointed as the Product Responsibility Organisation (PRO) because it has the structure and experience required to undertake this product stewardship scheme.

❓Did you know❓

For Queenslanders who prefer to donate their drink container to a community group, sports club or another organisation, container return points can direct the 10c refund payment to a registered group. In addition, some groups will run their own container donation points at which the refund payment will be retained by them.

To learn more about Queensland’s Container Refund Scheme, please visit the Containers for Change website at containersforchange.com.au.