From September 2025, New South Wales will transition to an in-arrears invoicing model for its Return & Earn container deposit scheme, aligning with practices in most other Australian states.
Exchange for Change, the scheme coordinator, said the change means supplier invoices will be based on the previous month’s actual supply volumes to fund that same month’s scheme costs.
Currently, invoices are calculated using the previous month’s volumes to fund the next month’s costs.
Danielle Smalley, CEO of Exchange for Change, said, “We understand the challenges faced by beverage suppliers participating in container deposit schemes in multiple jurisdictions across Australia, which can be exacerbated by the different administrative requirements.
“This change is part of our commitment to make participation easier for suppliers by looking for opportunities to harmonise across jurisdictions.”
During the transition period, no supplier contribution invoices will be issued in July and August 2025, providing a two-month pause for participating suppliers. The first in-arrears invoice will be issued on 21 September 2025.
Supplier reporting obligations will remain unchanged. Beverage suppliers will still need to report actual supply volumes for July and August by 15 July and 15 August respectively.
The NSW container deposit scheme operates on a cost-recovery basis and does not make a profit. Since launching in December 2017, more than 13.9 billion containers have been returned via the return point network, and 3.8 billion more through kerbside recycling.
