Introduced in 1977 to combat littering, South Australia’s Container Deposit Scheme has lead to the state becoming the leader in glass bottle recycling. Glass containers can be re-used many times and recycled indefinitely.

There is a 10 cent deposit and refund on most beverage containers in South Australia, check the label if the deposit / refund applies.

Producing glass from recycled glass bottles rather than raw materials uses 75% less energy. The energy saved by recycling a single bottle could light a 15-watt low energy light bulb for 24 hours.

Recycling glass therefore results in a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Australian glass bottles have generally 40-70% recycled content, which means that recycled bottles and jars go directly into the manufacture of new bottles and jars. Recycled glass conserves more than 1.1 tonnes of raw materials per tonne.

Container Deposit Systems – ‘War on Waste’ Recycling Initiative

Recycling plants in SA receive 10 times more money for the resale of glass materials than other mainland states, it has also significantly reduced the amount of littering to keep South Australia looking beautiful.

If you’re in the Burton / Salisbury area of Adelaide’s Northern Suburbs and would like to recycle your glass bottles for cash please call: (08) 8280 6350.

AAA Recycling Centre is one of Adelaide’s leading bottle recycling facilities. Every week we receive thousands of glass bottles that qualify for the South Australian government’s container deposit refund scheme.

How to tell if a bottle is part of the deposit refund scheme

Under South Australia’s container deposit legislation glass bottles marked with either:

–  10c refund at collection depots when sold in SA or
– 10c refund at SA/NT collection depots in State/Territory of purchase

can be returned to AAA Recycling Centre to collect a 10 cent refund for each glass bottle.

Preparing glass bottles for recycling

• Remove lids and caps
• Glass bottles do not need to be rinsed
• *Labels don’t need to be removed

*Deposit refunds may be refused if bottles cannot be identified.

Glass we don’t accept and can’t recycle

• Car windscreens
• Mirrored glass
• Household drinking glasses
• Domestic window glass

AAA Recycling Centre sorts the coloured glass bottles to make the reconstitution process easier for manufacturers. The Container Deposit Scheme has also lead to less broken glass – deposit refunds are not offered for broken bottles.

The most common glass bottles sold in South Australia are typically for beer and RTD mix drinks which come in either brown, green or clear glass.

PLEASE NOTE: It is illegal to return beverage containers sold outside of South Australia for a refund.

Glass bottles in the CDL scheme

Beverage containers up to and including three litres that have a 10 cent deposit are:

• carbonated soft drinks
• non-carbonated soft drinks
• vitamin drinks
• alcoholic cider
• beers / ales / stouts
• flavoured alcoholic beverages with a wine or spirit base (RTDs)

Glass jars that are not part of the CDL scheme can still be recycled at AAA Recycling Centre for a small refund.