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Container Deposit Scheme: NEW RULES

12 Nov 2023 8:37 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

Queensland

Members should be aware that the Container Deposit Scheme has been extended to include spirit bottles that are sold in, or to be consumed, in Queensland. This was previously only applied to RTDs. This came into effect 1 November 2023.

If you are a QLD producer, this affects you.

If you sell your product into QLD, this affects you.

Many thanks go to the QDA who has been lobbying the State Government for administrative amendments to this scheme. They have been in constant communication with the Minister’s office, the Office of Circular Economy and COEX as the scheme administrator in Queensland.

Some of the key elements of the scheme are:

  • Your product for sale requires a barcode. You are not required to put a barcode on any existing stock, and you have 12 months to arrange for stock produced after 1 November 2023 to be labelled with barcodes.
  • Your product must have a marking or labelling that state the refund amount, how it can be claimed at a container refund point in a participating state, and it must be of a colour and size that is clear and legible for the container. The QLD legislation does not specify a particular size or colour. You should be aware of this for future label requirements. The QDA was successful in negotiating a transitional period before this is labelling is mandatory. A grace period will be in place for the display of a refund mark on glass wine and spirit bottles until 1 January 2027.
  • If you produce less than 100,000 bottles per year, you will only have to report and pay annually.
  • Packaging that carries the eligible bottles does not need to be barcoded.
  • If you are already registered with COEX as a Beverage Manufacturer (BM) no changes are required to your existing registration / Container Recovery Agreement (CRA), you just need to start registering the new applicable products under existing CRA.
  • If you are not registered as a BM with COEX, you can find out more about First Sale here: First Sale Guide.
  • Existing manufacturers can start registering pure spirit products online now via the Business Partner Portal.
  • If products are sold into Queensland, the products need to be registered with COEX and the beverage manufacturer needs to report on sales.
  • If you sell pure spirit bottles into Queensland, even just online, you will need to register with Container Exchange through their beverage manufacturer registration portal to operate legally in Queensland.

More information can be found here.


Victoria

The new container deposit scheme, VicReturn, commenced on 1 November 2023. While “a glass bottle or glass container designed to hold only pure spirituous liquor or wine” has been exempt from the scheme at this point, those selling cans or glass RTDs are still caught by the scheme.

Full details of the scheme, including how to register (which is compulsory if you are supplying eligible containers) is available at https://vicreturn.com.au/first-suppliers/.

Those affected (RTD or bottled cocktails) will need to enter into a Supply Agreement with VicReturn, and you will be invoiced for the costs on a monthly basis. If you are supplying less than 300,000 containers per annum, you can opt into a quarterly invoicing arrangement. These costs vary depending on the type of container, but will add between 11.0 and 11.5 cents per container (plus GST) to your business costs.


Other States

Other states are in various stages of community consultation.


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