Industry Partners

WARRRL’s mission is to:

• Increase the recovery and recycling of beverage containers
• Reduce the amount of beverage containers in litter and landfill
• Help create new jobs in our communities
• Work with existing collection and recycling programs in WA
• Make sure manufacturers fulfil their product stewardship responsibilities
• Encourage social enterprise to improve communities and our environment
• Help not-for-profits, clubs and charities fundraise and make a difference in their community

As well as enjoying a cleaner state, you can also benefit from collecting refunds for containers you probably use every day already. Alternatively, you can donate these refunds to local charities, community groups and non-for-profits, helping to provide services in your area.

Containers for Change provides many opportunities and benefits for schools, community groups and charities.

Not-for-profit organisations and registered charities will be able to use Containers for Change to help raise money from refunds. Once registered, groups can:

• receive donations from Western Australians choosing to directly donate their container refunds to their nominated charity or community group
• collect and return eligible containers as an organisation for 10-cent refunds per container
• partner with a local container Refund Point (RP) to access container collection resources (like cages or bins) for events or activities
• become a RP in their own right (subject to application and assessment)

For more information and to register your group, see our Community page.

WARRRL will create a convenient and accessible network of container Refund Points (RPs) across the state, through an open market application and assessment process.

Reflecting our priority to create opportunities within the community, Refund Points will be operated by a range of different social enterprises, businesses and non-profit organisations. These Refund Points will provide a place for people and community groups to return eligible containers in exchange for a 10-cent refund or donation.

Operators of Refund Points are responsible for:

• collecting, counting and sorting returned containers
• paying refunds to customers
• preparing materials for transport to a processor

In addition to these day-to-day responsibilities, Refund Point operators are the face of Containers for Change and are expected to provide high levels of customer service. Customers should have a convenient place to take their containers, and the experience should be pleasant.

A logistics provider is a business, social enterprise or organisation responsible for the safe and efficient transportation of eligible containers from Refund Points to a centre for further processing.

This is carried out at no charge to Refund Points.

Processors are responsible for:

• providing container collection infrastructure to container Refund Points (RP)
• verifying the number of containers received from RPs
• processing the collected containers into ready for sale material (for example, by crushing materials into bales)
• the sale of materials to recyclers via an online auction platform
• facilitating the collection of materials by the purchasing recycler

Material recovery facilities (MRFs) sort collected recyclable material and prepare it for recycling. They may use a combination of manual and mechanical separation methods to sort mixed dry recyclables.

MRFs will be an important link in the recycling chain for WA’s container deposit scheme, and WARRRL will collaborate with them closely in the capture and processing of eligible containers. 

All processed materials from processors and material recovery facilities will be sold through an online auction portal to approved recyclers. Only registered recyclers can buy through the portal.

As WARRRL is a not-for-profit organisation, any auction returns from the Refund Point network are reinvested back into WARRRL to fund the running costs of implementing the scheme.

WARRRL will use an online auction and sales portal to offer recycled materials to approved members of a recycling panel. Members can bid on auction lots or buy via ‘Buy now’ direct sale offers.

Materials that will be recycled include:

• PET (polyethylene terephthalate) a synthetic resin found in soft drink bottles, which can be used to make clothing and textiles, automotive parts, industrial strapping and more
• HDPE (high-density polyethylene) a high-density plastic found in milk bottles and shampoo containers, which can be used to make hard hats
• Aluminium cans are melted into aluminium ingots and used in manufacturing items like new aluminium cans, engine clocks and aeroplane wings
• Glass bottles, these are either sorted by colour and reprocessed into glass bottles or a glass sand to be used as a building aggregate for road construction, bedding sand and asphalt
• Steel, which can be melted down and reused in construction, transport, appliances and energy production
• As well as many other plastics

Containers for Change is a product stewardship scheme, in which industry manufacturers share responsibility for the sustainable management of products. Under the scheme, beverage suppliers pay for the cost of operating a convenient and accessible recycling scheme to recover eligible containers.

In this way, suppliers take responsibility for helping to improve recycling rates and reduce the environmental impact of empty beverage containers.

Any beverage product supplier which supplies eligible containers in Western Australia must enter into a Supply Agreement (SA) with WARRRL prior to Scheme Commencement. Beverage manufacturers contribute their share of the Scheme costs for each container supplied into Western Australia, which goes towards the 10-cent refund provided for recycling eligible containers.

The amount a manufacturer contributes is based on the number of products each manufacturer sells in eligible containers in Western Australia.

Beverage manufacturers are required to display the refund mark on all eligible containers by 1 October 2022.

Contribution required from First Responsible Suppliers 

Please note, these prices:

• are based on container redemption rates of 42% redeemed through refund points, with 22.1% of containers redeemed at material recycling facilities (MRFs) (eligible containers thrown away in Council recycling bins which end up at MRFs)
• apply at the start of the scheme – the cost of running the scheme will change over time as more customers take the opportunity to redeem containers.

The Supply Amount Calculation Methodology used for scheme pricing calculations can be found here.

It’s important that beverage manufacturers understand the range of obligations and the financial impact on their businesses.

More information

Beverage industry mailing list: To subscribe to our mailing list to receive information about Containers for Change and specific scheme information for first responsible suppliers, send your best contact details to commercial@warrrl.com.au.

Resources: Information for network participants, including first responsible suppliers (beverage industry) is available on the WARRRL Resources page. This includes information from previous beverage supplier information forums. Email commercial@warrrl.com.au for access.

Other useful links:

Department of Water and Environmental Regulation CDS information

Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2007

Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (Container Deposit Scheme) Regulations 2019

In some circumstances, beverage products manufactured or first sold into Western Australia will be exported out of the state – either overseas, or to another Australian state or territory. In this case, an export has occurred.

Because these containers do not stay in Western Australia for consumption or redemption, they are not a cost to the scheme. The exporter of these containers would therefore be eligible for an export refund.

A company which exports beverage products in eligible containers can claim the export refund if:

• the containers have had the scheme costs paid, and
• there is an Exporter Agreement (EA) with WARRRL in effect.

The EA provides a direct contractual relationship between the exporter and WARRRL, allowing WARRRL to audit and verify the export refund claim. To create an Exporter Agreement please contact commercial@warrrl.com.au.

Retailers are an important part of the scheme. To assist with the overall awareness and understanding of the scheme, a marketing toolkit and supporting materials are being created especially for retailers to display in-store.

These materials will be available for request once the scheme launches.