Glass wine and spirit bottles in Queensland’s container refund scheme
Queensland became the first container refund scheme in Australia to include glass wine and spirit bottles in its eligible container list on 1 November 2023.
What changed?
Following a Queensland Government consultation between December 2022 and February 2023, the scheme was expanded to include eligible glass wine and spirit bottles between 150mL and 3L.
More than 6,600 responses were received during the consultation, with more than 98% supporting the proposed change.
The expansion was designed to increase glass recovery, improve recycling outcomes and support bottle-to-bottle recycling by keeping more valuable glass in circulation.
Preparing for the change
Significant preparation took place before the expansion commenced.
COEX worked closely with wine and spirit producers to support registration and product onboarding. Improvements were made to registration processes and systems to help beverage manufacturers meet their obligations.
COEX also worked with container refund point operators to ensure they could safely and efficiently accept the new container types, including upgrading systems, supporting operational changes and implementing technology updates for barcode recognition.
Change for beverage manufacturers
Scheme expansion introduced new obligations for manufacturers supplying eligible glass wine and spirit bottles into Queensland.
Manufacturers entering the scheme were required to:
- register with COEX
- enter into a Container Recovery Agreement
- register eligible beverage products before supply into Queensland.
Information about current registration, product management, reporting and invoicing requirements is available throughout the Beverage Manufacturers section of this website. These obligations now form part of normal scheme operations.
Outcomes and impact
The expansion delivered immediate results. In November 2023, the Containers for Change network successfully managed a 26% increase in glass volumes compared to the previous year, representing an additional 10.4 million containers returned.
The introduction of wine and spirit bottles contributed to record collection volumes and a 13.4% increase in annual glass returns. Queensland’s rolling 12-month glass recovery rate increased from 81% before the expansion to 88% by 30 June 2024.
More than 538 million glass containers were returned through the scheme during the financial year following the expansion.
Supporting a circular economy
Glass returned through container refund points can be recycled into new glass bottles, supporting bottle-to-bottle recycling.
Refund mark transition period
To support industry implementation, a transition period was introduced for newly eligible wine and spirit products.
Eligible wine and spirit beverage containers were provided with a grace period before displaying a refund mark became mandatory. This transition period concludes on 1 January 2027.