What you get back
The deposit value is set by material and size, not by brand, and it is the same at every depot. Containers have to be empty and reasonably intact; what counts as intact is described plainly below rather than left to the person behind the counter.
Glass
PET
PET bottle, up to 1 litreEight cents. Crushed is fine as long as the barcode can still be read; if it cannot, the depot may still take it at its discretion and most do.
PET bottle, over 1 litreTwelve cents. The commonest container in the scheme and the one with the lowest return rate, which is why the deposit went up last year.
Metal
Depots
The things people ask at the counter
What counts as a returnable container, what happens to a crushed one, how producers register, and where the unredeemed money goes.
What is a container worth?
Ten cents for glass up to 750ml, fifteen above it, eight for PET up to a litre, twelve above it, and eight for an aluminium can. The value is set by material and size rather than by brand and it is identical at all forty-one depots.
What condition does it need to be in?
Empty, with the neck intact for glass, and with a readable barcode for PET and cans. Labels, caps and ordinary dirt are all acceptable and no depot may refuse a container for those. Crushed PET is fine if the barcode survives.
Is there a minimum?
No minimum, no maximum, no card and no app. One bottle is a valid return. If a depot is short of cash it must say so at the door rather than after you have queued, and a depot that does not is reported and logged.
Where does the money come from?
Producers pay the deposit into the scheme fund when they put a container on the market, and you pay it at the till as a separate line on your receipt. It is not a tax and it does not belong to us; the unredeemed portion funds the scheme and is published with the annual figures.
How do I become a depot?
A two-page application, answered within a week. You are paid two cents per container handled, settled fortnightly, at the same published rate as everybody else. You need somewhere dry to store containers and enough float to pay refunds in cash.
What people say
Read all the reviews★★★★★
Cash at the counter, no card, no app, no minimum. My kids keep the money.
★★★★★
Two cents a container, paid every fortnight for three years without fail.
★★★★★
Producer registration was two pages and took two days.
★★★★★
Forty-one depots is not everywhere yet. Two more opened this year.
A container type that is not listed?
Join the schemeAsk about this container
Tell us the container and the depot and we will answer within two working days.