Lake Macquarie Square has introduced a Return and Earn Recycling Station.  The station can be found in the car park, near the Big W loading dock.

What is Return and Earn?

The NSW container deposit scheme that will help to reduce more than 160 million drink containers littered in NSW every year. 

What is a collection point?

Collection points are sites for people to return their eligible drink containers for a 10 cent refund. Eligible drink containers include most between 150mls and three litres, and that are most commonly found in the litter stream and broadly align with schemes in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Containers should be empty, uncrushed, unbroken and with the original label attached.

What type of collection point is at Lake Macquarie Square?

Reverse vending machine (RVM).  

RVM's are ideal for quickly redeeming up to 500 containers at once and will operate 7am to 10pm.  A reverse vending machine is the opposite of a drink machine. You place your empty eligible drink container into the machine, the container is scanned to verify its eligibility and you receive a refund.  There are three ways to receive your refund:

   1. electronic funds transfer into a registered PayPal account after scanning the    myTOMRA app on your smartphone

   2. electing to donate your refund to a listed donation partner on the machine*   

   3. collecting a retail refund voucher that you can exchange for cash or in-store credit at the retail partner (Woolworths) listed on the voucher. 

*Charities and groups who want to apply to be a donation partner can register their interest via the Return and Earn website. Donation Stations are a smaller type of reverse vending machine that only delivers a donation to a charity, not a refund to the user. They accept plastic, aluminium and steel eligible drink containers and will be located at various iconic sites across NSW.

Where are collection points located? A collection point is available in the car park, near the Big W loading dock. 

Do I have to take my eligible containers to a collection point?  Yes, if you want to receive the 10 cent refund you will need to take them to a collection point.  If you don’t want to claim the refund you can either donate your eligible containers to a local fundraising group that is collecting them for the refund, or place them in a recycling bin. 

Who do I call if I have a problem with a collection point?  The Network Operator TOMRA Cleanaway is responsible for managing collection points and can be contacted on: 1800 290 691

Where can I find more information? Information about collection point types, locations and eligible containers is available at: www.returnandearn.org.au.