One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

The Container Exchange Points allow anyone to place their drink containers into them for someone else to collect and return at their preferred Containers for Change location for a 10-cent refund.

Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Scott Owen, said council was excited to roll-out the program for the region to combat several recycling issues.

“It is literally a pay it forward program – from those who don’t want, to those who need it,” Mr Owen said.

“It also assists council in combatting the issue of contamination in our public recycling bins,” he said.

“The units will be placed in public locations where there is no recycling option, or where it’s known that the commingled yellow bins are frequently highly contaminated or damaged due to ‘bin diving’,” he said.

The stations will be rolled out over the coming months and will be attached to existing rubbish bins in 70 locations across Mackay.

Natalie Roach, CEO of Container Exchange said a lack of dedicated drink container bins in public places meant millions of recyclable and refundable containers were still going to waste across Queensland each year.

“Containers for Change and council have partnered to address this challenge through the installation of Container Exchange Points on 70 public bins across Mackay,” Ms Roach said.

“Residents and visitors who don’t want to hold on to their empty eligible containers for a 10-cent refund can now place them in a Container Exchange Point on a public bin for others to collect.

“The Container Exchange Points are also a fantastic way for residents to collect containers to raise funds for local community groups, sporting clubs and charities to support their important work in the Mackay community.

“Mackay has embraced Containers for Change, returning more than 304 million containers for recycling since 2018.

“This has refunded more than $30.4 million to the pockets of local households, charities, and community groups. With the availability of the new Container Exchange Points in public places we are excited to see that figure continue to grow even further.

“This partnership is just one of example of the innovative ways Container Exchange is working with local councils across Queensland to increase container recycling and benefit both the environment and the community.”

Container Exchange is the not-for-profit organisation that implements Containers for Change in Queensland on behalf of the Queensland Government.