For many years Victoria had a 'will we, won't we?'' position across both major parties as they said they were ‘monitoring and evaluating’ other schemes being introduced across Australia.  Then in February 2020, the ALP government agreed to introduce a CDS by 2023.  The next challenge was to defeat a CDS designed by Coke and Lion and their lobby group, VicRecycle which risked consumer refund convenience and lower recycling rates.

Undoubtedly there was widespread community support. An IPSOS Poll conducted in June 2018, on behalf of Boomerang ally, the Total Environment Centre, showed that 84% of Victorians support a Container Deposit Scheme. This polling fully reinforced the response that we saw in regional Victoria on our Big Bottle Tour in April 2018.  Similarly our CDS design (based on NSW and which removed big bottler influence on the rollout of refund points) had majority support.

We’re not entirely sure why it took so long - but one insider view is that heavy lobbying by the hotel, beverage and gaming industry caused a serious blockage. The schemes already in place around Australia have been producing fantastic results, even from the earliest stages. Two thirds of plastic litter volume in Victoria is made up of beverage containers – a CDS was the obvious answer. 

We formed alliances between councils, NGOs, businesses and volunteer groups.  We joined with charity groups to support a scheme best suited to the non-profit sector - Download the Container Refund Schemes - Charity and NFP Charter.

In 2021 the Victorian Parliament passed its CRS legislation.  Currently the scheme is open for tenders for the Scheme Coordinator and Network Operator.  More info here.

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This page was last updated on 25 March 2019