It’s been a long time since Pat Cash was encouraging us to “cash a can” at your local aluminum recycling centre. Over time, all other mainland states except Victoria progressively moved to a container deposit scheme (10 cents for recycled cans and bottles). That is of course until this week. Introducing CDS VIC, otherwise know as the Container Deposit Scheme Victoria.

Victorians use more than 3 billion drink containers a year and many of these are not currently recycled. The deposit scheme not only provides better recycling outcomes, but it aims to reduce litter by up to half! That means the communities CITO efforts can reach even further than before with less potential rubbish to start with.

Partnering with CDS VIC

Geocaching Victoria is collaborating with CDS VIC as a donation partner. This means you can choose to donate your 10c refunds to Geocaching Victoria when depositing your cans and bottles at drop off centres all over the state. It may not sound like much, but every little bit helps to fund events, activities, and more.

How can I support Geocaching Victoria?

The simplest and easiest way is to scan the barcode below when returning cans and bottles at recycling depots and reverse vending machines. You don’t need to setup an account and any deposit refund will automatically be donated to Geocaching Victoria – with thanks!

Right click on the barcode image below to save it to your phone, add it to your notes, or even as a phone contact for easy access.

Alternatively, if you have set up an account with your local CDS VIC provider, you can choose Geocaching Victoria as your donation payout option in the app. This allows you to scan your own barcode in the app and donations will be paid based on the payout option selected.

The state is divided into three zones, and each has their own app. Use the map above to identify your local operator and click on the relevant link below for more details and to download the app.

Donations are anonymous and can be one off contributions or ongoing. All donations are greatly appreciated.

Recycling at Events and CITOs

We will be collecting cans and bottles for recycling at Geocaching Victoria events going forward – look out for the tub to deposit any empty containers. If you have some cans and bottles floating around at home, feel free to drop them off at our events, we will happily recycle them for you. Please don’t crush cans and bottles as they are not able to be returned.

Hopefully the deposit scheme will reduce the number of containers found when collecting rubbish at CITOs. For those that are still found lying around, one option COs might like to consider is donating the deposits collected to Geocaching Victoria. If this is something you might like to consider, feel free to contact one of our committee members for further help. Where a CITO is partnered with another organisation, they may also have a recycling initiative you may be able to support.

We will add some additional resources to our website soon to assist with donating, or collecting at events and CITOs.

This is a great program for improving our environment with the added benefit of helping many local not for profit organisations to fundraise. And you can still collect the ring pulls without impacting refunds!

NOTE: At the time of publication, there was a delay in the eastern region processing donation partner registrations. As a result Geocaching Victoria might not be available for selection in this zone in the first week of the program.