Bulk Return and Earn depot up and running this November

Getting your hands on a little cash for recyclable bottles and cans will soon be even easier, with a new bulk container return centre set to open in Orange this November.

The NSW Government’s Return and Earn Scheme, which offers a 10-cent refund for eligible cans, bottles or containers, has been popular in Orange.

But a commonly-heard complaint is the inconvenience of lugging containers to one of the two available collection points and then hand-feeding them into the reverse vending machines one by one.

But the new bulk container return centre now under construction behind Australian Disability Enterprise employer Wangarang Industries in South Orange will make that a thing of the past.

“It's one of the first greenfield sites,” corporate services and finance manager for Wangarang Industries Scott Lindsay said, looking out over the massive concrete slab being prepared for the new facility.

“We've designed it specifically for this purpose as opposed to a lot of the existing ones which have been put into existing buildings. A lot of thought's gone into the design, so it should be very user-friendly.”

Once it’s up and running, Scott said vehicles will enter off Forest Road on the southern side of the existing Wangarang facility, drop off their containers, which will be automatically sorted and counted and then have the money electronically transferred to a bank account or nominated charity.

“And then out and straight down there to the road, so it should be quick and easy,” Scott continued.

“We'll have initially two machines to sort the cans and bottles. They're big circular-like hoppers which the containers are poured into, they go along a conveyor belt and it's sorted into glass, plastic and cans… calculates the number and spits out a receipt and we use that to put it straight to their bank card or transmit overnight to a bank account.”

The new facility will be able to handle 100 cans or a truckload, Scott said.

And Wangarang has plans to schedule regular collections from the surrounding towns and villages.

“We'll be sending trucks out to outlying towns… a weekly pickup, that sort of thing,” Scott said.

 “They go into secure bags with that person's details on them and brought back here and we transfer the money into their account. So that's the plan we have, to service the whole area.

“It's going to employ quite a few of our supported staff as well. They'll be able to come up here and move bins and help, so in that sense, it's fulfilling our brief to provide meaningful work for people with disabilities.”

Scott said they hope the facility will be up and running sometime in November.

“It's supposed to be a hot summer, so we're anticipating a lot of cans and bottles!”