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Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Jam es Griffin said the people of NSW should be commended with over 2.7 billion containers returned through its state wide network of more than 640 return points.

“Return and Earn now has over 5 million drink containers returned everyday and growing, and an impressive current redemption rate of 67% of eligible drink containers supplied into NSW,” Mr Griffin said.

“This time last year we were celebrating one billion containers returned on the first anniversary of Return and Earn. The growth of the scheme has seen us knocking on the door of three billion a year later.”

“There’s no doubt Return and Earn has been a great success and has fundamentally changed people’s thinking and behavior aro und litter.”

“Equally significant has been the impact Return and Earn has had on charities, schools and community groups, helping 430 official donation partners and countless other groups to fund a range of programs, resources and assistance for communities in need.”

This summer, people can opt to donate their 10c refund to ‘Bottles for the Bush’ and help support our fire and drought affected communities by donating some of their empty bottles, cans and cartons at any Return and Earn reverse vending machine.

“Return and Earn was launched with the aim of reducing litter and it’s doing that. Other flow on benefits have been revealed as people find new ways to utilise the fundraising benefits of the scheme it’s inspiring.

“Over $617,000 has been raised for donation partners in the last two years. The scheme has brought on so many positives across communities and every bottle returned is a bottle redirected from landfill and a win for the environment.

“Alongside scheme coordinator Exchange for Change an d network operator TOMRA Cleanaway, we look forward to continuing to work closely with industry to find new and innovative ways to make ‘Returning and Earning’ even easier and continue to grow,” Mr Griffin said.