If everyone in Canberra traded their drink containers for 10 cents, here's how much money there'd be

OzHarvest Canberra joined the Container Deposit Scheme as a charity partner in March 2023. Photo: OzHarvest Canberra.

Food rescue charity OzHarvest Canberra has signed up to receive refunds from the ACT’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), but is calling on Canberrans to donate more empty drink bottles and cans if the new partnership is to truly pay off.

The ACT Government launched the scheme in June 2018 as a way for locals to reduce litter and landfill by exchanging their used cartons, cans, and small glass and plastic bottles for 10 cents apiece (milk bottles, wine bottles and other large bottles are still out for now).

There are 22 return points around the ACT, or the option for a pick-up from your doorstep by ReCollect.

Since then, more than 451 million empty drink containers have been collected, 248 million through the return points and 203 million containers from kerbside recycling bins.

All up, this equates to $45.1 million over five years.

Some Canberrans have elected to pass their refund on to charities such as The Salvation Army, Vinnies, Anglicare, Scouts ACT, and – as of March this year – OzHarvest Canberra.

OzHarvest Canberra rescues leftover food from supermarkets and retailers that would otherwise go to landfill, and repurposes it as fully prepped meals for 73 charities, with another 19 charities on the waiting list.

In the last 12 months, 464,000 kilograms of excess food have become 928,000 healthy meals for locals in need (at the cost of 50 cents each), and the volunteers recently delivered their 10 millionth meal – to the Helping Hand Food Pantry in Spence.

Demand and supply are definitely there, but OzHarvest Canberra city manager Belinda Barnier says the group’s in a “very tight corner” at the moment.

“The demand from charities has gone up by more than 50 per cent in the last 12 months, and the amount of food we’re rescuing by 34 per cent,” she says.

“We’re still only collecting about two per cent nationally of the food that’s being wasted in landfill, so we need to ramp it up, but we don’t have the capacity to do that. I need more trucks. I need more drivers. I need a kitchen. I need a depot. I need about another half-a-million dollars a year to do this.”

Since March, only $3000 of donations from CDS have made their way to OzHarvest Canberra.

Ms Barnier says these figures are “quite shocking” when you consider the ACT churns through about 180 million containers every year. Or to put that in dollar terms, $18 million a year and $90 million over five years. Only 59 per cent of the ACT’s adults participate in the scheme.

“OzHarvest is calling upon more community minded, environmentally minded households to lean in and support our ongoing work to increase our capacity,” she says.

About $3000 worth of donations have made their way to OzHarvest Canberra since March, but it’s not nearly enough. Photo: OzHarvest Canberra.

“If every individual in Canberra could round up 20 containers a year and donate the refunds, we’d have an extra $900,000 to increase our capacity for the community.”

Ideally, every suburb would have its own champion (or champions), encouraging others towards the cause.

“We’re inviting people to be part of the solution and that’s the whole point.”