Make a return
CDS Vic provides a 10 cent refund for every eligible drink container returned. Each bottle, can and carton that you return helps to divert valuable containers from landfill.
There are hundreds of refund points across Victoria, so look out for your local. The network has more than 600 refund points.
Get involved
In partnership with city councils, these baskets offer a new way to recycle containers on the go.
Are you a school that wants to get involved with CDS Vic? You will find lots of resources and guidance here.
Find out more about participating in Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme.
Our partners
AFL Victoria and CDS Vic have teamed up to support local football clubs across the state in raising funds and promoting sustainability. Through this exciting partnership, CDS Vic is now the Official Recycling Partner of AFL Victoria until 2027.
Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme is proud to partner with Sustainability Victoria's ResourceSmart Schools to empower Victorian schools to recycle and reduce waste.
CDS Vic is proud to announce its groundbreaking partnership with Tennis Victoria. This exciting initiative aims to reduce waste, promote recycling, and support grassroots tennis communities across the state to raise funds.
We have joined forces with Zoos Victoria for a new campaign with a big mission to protect some of our most threatened frog species by recycling your drink containers.
About us
See our commitment to fraud and corruption control, and how to get in touch if you have any concerns
Our ResourceSmart Schools Awards winners for 2026
All across Victoria, schools of all sizes have embraced Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme. We like to recognise their efforts wherever we can, but once a year, we get a special opportunity to celebrate with the ResourceSmart Schools Awards.
Our CDS Vic Excellence category awards one primary and one secondary school, and for 2026, we’d like to congratulate Pleasant Street Primary and Lilydale Heights College. The awards ceremony was held this week at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, so there’s a lot to celebrate.
Pleasant Street Primary sits next to Lake Wendouree in Ballarat. Their Pleasant Street Bees green team is made up of 20 students from year 3-6, with three times that many applying each year. CDS Vic collections have been truly embedded into school life. Judges praised the school’s partnerships internally and externally – they work with a local depot who provides a collection service – and the high level of student involvement. Congratulations must also go to Tecoma Primary School and Newstead Primary School, who were the runners-up in the primary category.
Lilydale Heights College students took a hands-on approach to their CDS Vic collections. In order to keep other rubbish out of their bins, they worked to customise wheelie bins with chained lids and one-way openings. They also added drainage holes and on-theme artwork to help remind the school community why the scheme is so important. Designs feature each Victoria’s most endangered animals. Judges were thoroughly impressed by this, as well as the students’ work on bin placement and behaviour change. Congratulations to Lilydale, and to our runners-up, Kew High School and Brentwood Secondary School.
If your school would like to get involved with CDS Vic, and maybe even enter for this award next year, we have resources to help.
Find out more:
