Bendigo Foodshare has closed its refund point for the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) at its warehouse in Long Gully, the charity confirmed today.

Bendigo Foodshare Chair Sue Clarke said unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of our control, our Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) refund point located in Long Gully is now permanently closed.

“We thank everyone who has chosen to refund their containers with us, supporting our fundraising efforts,” Ms Clarke said.

“During the short two months we were open, more than 50,000 containers were recycled through our collection point.

“There have been many factors to our decision to pause our CDS operation, including challenges with operating from our Havilah Road location and difficulties securing a permit to operate elsewhere.

“Zone Operator, Visy has also acknowledged they underestimated the demand in regional Victoria and have not been able to equip us with enough bins to open for more than a few hours each week. This has resulted in us having to repeatedly turn the public away – something we wish we did not have to do.”

Ms Clarke added that she hoped the closure was only temporary and that the charity could reopen later in 2024 with the community’s support.

While its own operations are on hold, the charity encouraged people to continue recycling and return their containers. When returning containers, people can still choose Bendigo Foodshare as their ‘nominated charity’ and select the option to donate their 10c refund.

The closest Bendigo collection points are:

  • Envirobank East Bendigo – 23 Wellsford Drive, East Bendigo
  • Envirobank Kangaroo Flat – 10 Phillips Drive, Kangaroo Flat

To find your local collection point visit https://cdsvic.org.au/locations .