Container deposit legislation (CDL), also known as a container deposit scheme (CDS), is a scheme that was first implemented in South Australia in 1977 and over the decades has spread to the Northern Territory in 2012, New South Wales in 2017, the Australian Capital Territory in June 2018, Queensland in November 2018 and Western Australia in October 2020 and Victoria in November 2023. Schemes in the remaining state of Tasmania are due to commence in early 2024.
A Newspoll survey found a majority of people in Australia support a deposit scheme, and a national scheme has also been proposed many times over the years. The NSW scheme had been strongly opposed by the beverage industry before its introduction.
The value of deposits and the scope of their application have been influenced by the Australian federal constitution's guarantee of free trade between the states. The defining case in this issue was the attempt to introduce a differential between reusable and recyclable bottle deposits. The issue was taken to the High Court of Australia in the Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd v South Australia court case. State-based schemes need to be exempted from the Commonwealth Mutual Recognition Act which guarantees products can be sold in any jurisdiction without requiring any special labelling. This formed the basis of legal action against the Northern Territory's scheme until an exemption was granted. The value of a container deposit is 10 cents for an eligible container.
Historical
Through the early 20th century, when the cost of producing glass bottles was higher, a natural industry of glass bottle collectors and merchants performed a similar function to the modern CDL. Bottle accumulators, a licensed and unionized workforce commonly known as "bottle-ohs" from their street cries, travelled by cart around the streets buying empty bottles from households and businesses. They would then sell the bottles to a bottle yard, which would store and sort the bottles before selling them in bulk to brewers and other bottlers. It was an industry from which a bottle-oh could make a good living; in 1904, they could buy a dozen beer bottles for 6d., sell them to the bottle yard for 9d., who could sell them to brewers for 1s. The commercial reuse of glass bottles and the bottle collecting industry had all but disappeared by the 1950s.
Soft drink and other beverage bottles were still collected in Queensland and returned for deposits up to the late 1960s. In Western Australia soft drink bottles could be exchanged for 10 cents and beer bottles for 2 cents until around 1982.
CDL by state and territory
Summary
South Australia
CDL in South Australia was put in place under the Beverage Container Act 1975 (SA) and came into operation in 1977. Environment Protection Act 1993 (SA) now governs the levying and refund of deposits.
There is a refund of 10 cents per can or bottle (raised from 5 cents in late 2008). In the 1970s, deposits ranged from 20c for a 30oz bottle and 10c for a 10oz and 6½oz bottle. With the introduction of plastic and non-re-usable bottles, the deposit was reduced to 5c (including aluminium cans). This amount remained unchanged till late 2008.
Around 600 people are employed in the recovery of bottles in South Australia with community groups such as the Scouts to operate container refund depots. While there are professional collectors who collect on an arranged basis from particular venues (e.g. pubs and restaurants), usually operating small trucks for the job, there are also many socially marginalised collectors who forage in spots such as refuse bins for discarded deposit bottles; these collectors often travel by bicycle, sometimes with relatively elaborate and inventive modifications to allow them to carry bulky loads of bottles.
Until 2008, every beverage container in Australia bore the words "5c refund at SA collection depots in state of purchase". This changed to "10c refund at SA collection depots in state of purchase" in late 2008. Since the Northern Territory started their own scheme in 2012, this message has changed again. With other jurisdictions implementing their own schemes a common label has been developed. The new label reads: "10c refund at collection depots/points in participating State/Territory of purchase".