When Andrew Chancellor moved from Sydney to Canberra in 2020 to be with Shanly Cheater, they began using the ACT Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) to receive the 10c refund for every eligible drink container and pay for weekly necessities such as groceries and bills. A few years later, they began putting the money towards their wedding, which took place in September 2025.

Shanly works in education and Andrew is a hospital wards-person, which has turned out to be handy for accessing containers. “I get cans from work, from my family, my mum, my grandma and my brother,” he says. “When we had our wedding to plan, we thought we would put it towards that. It was a cool thing to do.”

After their engagement, the couple dedicated one and a half years to their recycling efforts to save for their wedding. Andrew says the scheme helped them raise $2,000, from a staggering 20,000 containers. This amount allowed them to pay for the photography for their big day.

“It didn’t pay for our whole wedding, but it definitely helped,” says Andrew. “We paid for our photography through that.”

The ACT CDS currently has 20 return points in Canberra to recycle bottles, cans and cartons. Since the commencement of the scheme, over 466 million containers have been recycled via these return points – raising $46 million for ACT residents and community organisations.

Andrew and Shanly use the ACT CDS cash-back depot in Mitchell. He describes how easy it is to sort the bottles himself and receive the cash straight away.

“We have these big carton bags and fill up at least six of them which fit in my car, and then it’s only about a 5-minute drive to Mitchell.”

Andrew notes the incentive was not only financial, but also environmental. “We should do more recycling,” he believes. “It’s good to see even more containers in the scheme as well – we need to look after our planet.”

Even though their wedding is over, the couple plans to keep using the scheme and are even finding it’s something they can do as a couple.

“Shanly and I did it yesterday,” Andrew laughs. “We did it together, it’s a bit faster that way.”

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While each depot is being upgraded, the container counting machines will be temporarily unavailable.
You can still return eligible containers using the bag drop service, or our team will manually count and process your return and provide a cash refund on the spot.

Please allow extra time, as manual counting may cause delays and some additional noise on site.

• Phillip – Monday 13 April – Sunday 19 April
• Belconnen – Monday 20 April – Tuesday 28 April
• Fyshwick – Monday 18 May – Wednesday 27 May
• Mitchell – Monday 11 May – Friday 22 May

For updates, please keep an eye on the ACT CDS Facebook page.

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From mid-2027, the scheme will grow to include most containers between 150 millilitres and 3 litres such as wine and spirits, cordials and juices and larger containers of up to 3 litres that are already in the scheme, like flavoured milk and juice.

“We expect the expansion will result in an additional 8 million containers collected and 400 tonnes of recyclable material being diverted from landfill in the first year, and this will increase over time,” said Suzanne Orr, Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water.

“Expanding the scheme will reduce waste and improve the recovery and circularity of our precious resources.

“Since the scheme commenced in 2018 there have been more than 430 million containers returned via local return points, which adds up to more than $43 million in the pockets of ACT residents and community organisations.”

Community consultation showed over 90 per cent of participants were in favour of expanding the scheme.

Most respondents saw the expansion as an opportunity to generate more income for themselves or local schools, charities, sporting clubs and community groups.

The expanded ACT CDS will commence no earlier than mid-2027 to  give the beverage industry time to adjust and allowing return points and systems to get ready for collecting and processing the new containers.

The new containers will not be accepted at return points until then, and the community is encouraged to keep recycling these containers in their yellow recycling bins until the expanded CDS is launched.

The ACT expansion will align with the expansion of the NSW Return and Earn scheme and will see the ACT join other jurisdictions across Australia that are also expanding their schemes.

Over the coming months, the ACT Government will prepare an updated regulation which will enable an expanded range of containers to enter the ACT CDS.

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Twelve-year-old Keira Naden is proof that recycling can take you a long way—all the way to Japan, in her case.

Keira, a dedicated member of Canberra’s Jazzy Jumpers rope skipping team, is preparing to represent Australia at the World Jump Rope Championships in Kawasaki this July. But instead of asking for donations, she and her family chose a more hands-on fundraising approach: collecting bottles and cans to redeem through the ACT Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) for the 10c refund.

“When I found out I qualified for Japan, we thought it would be a good idea to do container recycling to help raise money. We posted on Facebook to ask if anyone had spare bottles and cans, and lots of people replied. We pick up their containers and they update us when they have more,” said Keira, who is in Year 7 at Amaroo High School.

“It started with a post on a local ‘buy nothing’ Facebook page and grew from our neighbourhood to Canberra-wide. We live in Gunghalin and drive as far as Tuggeranong to collect containers,” said Keira’s mother, Stacey.

Some weeks they collect more than others but usually they cash in their haul once a fortnight to the ACT CDS cash-back depot in Mitchell.

At last count, they had raised $2,000–the result of 20,000 containers—enough to cover Keira’s airfare and contribute $500 towards the club to support other participants.

“Now that we have enough for her ticket, funds raised from here will go towards supporting other Jazzy Jumpers’ travel,” said Stacey.

They plan to continue recycling containers, even though they have now covered Keira’s flights and contributed to other athletes. “I think it would be great to keep it going now that so many people know about it—people keep reaching out to donate containers!”

Keira said recycling has been an easy and rewarding way to raise money.

“I like how it doesn’t go to landfill so it’s also good for the environment – and it’s easy.”

“It’s something everyone can get involved in. We’re not asking people for money, so anyone can contribute,” said Stacey.

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