Container deposit scheme

Take your eligible containers back to an approved Northern Territory collection depot and get 10 cents back in your pocket.

The Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) helps to reduce litter from our streets, increases recycling and helps reduce the amount of rubbish being disposed to landfill.

For more information about the CDS, please contact the Container Deposit Scheme team.

Collection depots

Collection depots are the public access point to the Northern Territory's CDS, providing the 10 cent refund on approved beverage containers.

Collection depots that accept the return of approved containers must pay the 10 cent refund amount for each container to the person presenting the containers. This is provided that the containers were purchased in the Northern Territory after 3 January 2012.

Collection depots are not required to accept any container that is unclean, contaminated or has a lid on it.

Help your collection depot by returning containers that are eligible and not crushed to get your 10 cent refund. To reduce your waiting times at the collection depot, ensure your containers are:

clean
have no lids on them and
are sorted into material types.

If you return more than 1,500 containers to a collection depot within any 48 hour period, you will need to sign a declaration form stating that:

the containers were purchased in the Northern Territory and
were purchased after 3 January 2012.

CDS co-ordinators

A CDS co-ordinator coordinates the activities of CDS participants under the CDS.

CDS co-ordinators accept, handle and deliver for reuse, recycling or other appropriate disposal, approved containers received from collection depots.

The CDS co-ordinators have arrangements with collection depots across the Territory.

Co-ordinators are working with businesses in a number of areas to establish collection depots that will provide reasonable access across the Territory.

Community groups, sporting clubs and schools

Community groups, sporting clubs and schools can get involved by establishing donation collection points for approved containers.

This could be done by providing collection bins at events or at the canteen or providing the opportunity for the community to donate their containers. This means any containers returned to collection depots using these bins will raise funds for your organisation.

Planning needs to be put into how the containers will be collected, sorted, stored and transported to collection depots.

The CDS isn't just about fund raising, it's also a great way to motivate kids and club members to clean up the local environment.

Regulated containers

Regulated containers PDF (590.7 KB) are types of beverages and containers that the Northern Territory CDS applies to.

Regulated containers will have one of the following 10 cents refund markings on the label:

10c refund at collection depots/points in participating State/Territory of purchase
10c refund at SA/NT collection depots in State/Territory of purchase
10c refund at collection depots when sold in NT.

It is an offence under the CDS for a retailer to sell regulated containers that have not been approved for sale in the Northern Territory.

If you are unsure whether or not a product is approved under the scheme please contact the Container Deposit Scheme team.

Scheme targets and policy roadmap

Scheme targets have been set by the Minister for Environment to incentivise increased beverage container returns, and recovery and recycling of container materials.

The targets will be implemented in a staged approach, as set out in a policy roadmap. The roadmap explains the approach to monitoring and evaluating performance against targets and setting new targets in subsequent stages.

This commences with stage 1 aspirational (voluntary) targets for 2 years from 1 July 2024.

The environmental regulator will monitor scheme participant data and progress towards meeting the voluntary targets. The success of these targets will be evaluated to determine what targets may be needed for stage 2 and subsequent stages. Key stakeholders will be consulted before any mandatory targets are introduced or regulatory changes are made.

Read the roadmap to learn more about the stages and targets on the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security website.