The Marrickville Return and Earn Depot has reached a major milestone, with 10 million eligible bottles, cans and cartons recycled by the community.

This means $1 million has been returned to the local community via refunds since the depot opened in September 2025.

The positive environmental impact of recycling 10 million drink containers instead of producing new ones includes:
•    energy savings equivalent to powering 137 households for a year
•    water savings equivalent to 23 Olympic-sized swimming pools
•    carbon dioxide emissions avoided equivalent to 727 cars off the road for a year.

This impressive Inner West recycling achievement in less than a year was recognised with a community celebration at the depot attended by The Smith Family, Reverse Garbage and Little Wings.

Located at 54 Smidmore Street, Marrickville, the staffed Return and Earn depot can process up to 100 containers a minute, making it ideal for returning 500 or more containers at a time without the need to pre-sort containers.

The depot offers a ‘tag and drop’ service for people short on time to leave their bagged containers for staff to process for the 10c refund, while the latest ‘tip and go’ technology makes it easier for recyclers with larger volumes of containers.

Marrickville Return and Earn Depot is open daily between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm.
For more information on Return and Earn visit: www.returnandearn.org.au

Jo Haylen Member for Summer Hill said:

“Ten million containers returned in less than a year is an incredible result and shows how enthusiastic and committed Inner-Westies are to reducing waste. It shows that when everyone chips in, the results are huge!
 
“Whether its families collecting cans at home, at weekend sport, or community groups fundraising, this milestone belongs to the people of the Inner West. They’ve turned recycling into real action.”
 
“The Marrickville drive-through depot has made it easier than ever for people to do the right thing, and the community has embraced it in a big way. One million dollars back into local pockets and ten million containers kept out of landfill is something we can all be proud of.”