Territorians claimed $10.7 million in refunds through the NT Container Deposit Scheme last financial year, following an expansion of the types of containers eligible for the scheme, a new report shows, with 107 million containers redeemed.

As of July 1, all beverage containers up to three litres, including wine and spirit bottles, larger juice and flavoured milk containers are permitted to receive the 10-cent refund from one of the NT’s 21 approved collection depots.

The annual report into the CDS, showed the scheme has now refunded over $130 million to Territorians since 2012, maintaining a return rate of at least 70 per cent annually.

The program has successfully returned 1.3 billion containers since its inception, the government said, with 397 suppliers now registered under the scheme, an increase from 324 in the previous financial year.

The program led to the recycling of more than 5,100 tonnes of materials, including aluminium, plastic, and glass in the 2025-26 financial year.

The returned containers were sold for further processing and recycling, including aluminium recycled into metal sheeting and cans; plastics recycled into PET flakes, PET bottles and HDPE bottles; and glass recycled into glass remelt for future bottles.

The report said that the majority of materials are sent interstate for “further processing or recycling”, adding that a “small proportion of material is sent overseas”.

The report also showed that more glass containers were returned than sold in the NT, which triggered a review into the “anomalous return rates” but the government did not mention what the review found, only that it expects lower glass return rates next financial year. It did highlight that there is a “large lag between consumers purchasing the beverages and the empty containers being returned”.

The figures showed 13.7 million glass bottles were sold in the NT in 2025-26, with 16.9 million returned.

“It’s great to see so many Territorians getting behind the CDS to help make our communities cleaner while putting money back in their pockets,” Environment Minister Josh Burgoyne said.

“Protecting our environment is important…and every container returned is one less item ending up in landfill or on our roadsides, in our parks, waterways and natural environment.”

Of the total $10.7 million in refunds returned to Territorians, $2.8 million of that amount was in regional areas, the government said.

Mr Burgoyne said recycling offers advantages that extend beyond waste reduction, contributing to the growth of the recycling sector and bolstering local employment, particularly in remote areas.

This is the ninth year in a row that the scheme has recorded a return rate of 70 per cent or more, with over 100 million containers returned annually, highlighting the scheme’s continued role in waste reduction and fostering the circular economy.

The annual report also provided an update on the NT’s plastic bags scheme, which came into effect on September 1, 2011.

“During the financial year, there were no reports of potential non-compliance with the plastic bag ban,” the report found.