General News
16 June, 2026
Push continues for Halls Gap refund point
HALLS Gap residents say they are still no closer to securing a Container Deposit Scheme refund point despite more than a year of lobbying, detailed submissions and repeated meetings with the scheme operator.
Northern Grampians Shire deputy mayor Justine Hide said she had been advocating for a Container Deposit Scheme refund point in Halls Gap for more than 12 months, arguing the town’s small permanent population did not reflect the volume of visitor-driven waste generated in the tourism hotspot.
Cr Hide said TOMRA Cleanaway representatives had visited Halls Gap to meet residents, business owners and other community stakeholders.
“I’ve been working on it for a year,” she said.
“I brought them out here, and we’ve explained to them the volume of waste in this town.”
Cr Hide said she believed Halls Gap’s permanent population remained the primary obstacle to securing a refund point.
“They go, ‘No, your population’s too low’,” she said.
“I prepared a document showing all the facts and figures about visitation, spend and the ratio of people who usually use the deposit container schemes.”
Cr Hide said she had also gathered sales data from local businesses and compiled it into a detailed submission covering visitor numbers, waste volumes and container sales in Halls Gap, as well as examples from other tourist towns around Australia where container deposit facilities had been introduced despite relatively small resident populations.
“It has come from genuine frustration from the community,” she said.
Cr Hide said visitor numbers already placed significant pressure on Halls Gap’s waste system during peak tourism periods.
“During peak times like Easter, Christmas and some long weekends, the council actually has to set up two additional waste collection point areas in the town to be able to cope with the volume,” she said.
“If all the glass and cans were going to where they were supposed to be going in the first place, it would help alleviate that extra waste that we’re faced with.”
Cr Hide said she understood TOMRA Cleanaway needed to consider viability, but believed tourism destinations should not be assessed in the same way as ordinary residential towns.
“Obviously, being a tourist town, you have to bank the rate of recycling on our occupancy rate,” she said.
“People here are consuming higher numbers of beverages because they are visitors. It’s not like having that same number on a residential level.”
Cr Hide said community members had also questioned whether the existing Stawell refund point had sufficient capacity, with residents regularly reporting the machine was full when they attempted to use it.
She said people had told her they often had more success using the Stawell site in the morning before it reached capacity.
In response, TOMRA Cleanaway said it recognised the importance of convenient access to the Container Deposit Scheme and was continuing to engage with the Halls Gap community.
“We have met with Halls Gap business owners and residents on multiple occasions and have been in direct contact with Northern Grampians Shire Deputy Mayor Councillor Justine Hide regarding potential CDS Vic access for the town,” TOMRA Cleanaway said.
“We’re continuing to work with Councillor Hide and the community on this matter.”
However, the company did not confirm whether Halls Gap was being formally assessed for a refund point, when a decision might be made, or what criteria the town would need to meet.
The company said refund point locations were planned to support local communities, taking into account factors such as population and travel distance in line with community access standards.
“Zone operators are responsible to meet all contractual and regulatory requirements in relation to placement of refund points in their area,” TOMRA Cleanaway said.
In relation to Stawell, TOMRA Cleanaway said the reverse vending machine operated well overall but could experience short interruptions due to cleaning or when the machine reached capacity.
“The site is serviced and cleaned multiple times a day by our logistics partner and site technicians respectively, with machine fill levels monitored live and additional support being available from our Ballarat team as needed, including in response to community reports via our Customer Service team,” the company said.
TOMRA Cleanaway encouraged customers to use the CDS Vic West app to check the availability and live status of sites before leaving home.
Cr Hide said the community would continue pushing for a local refund point but wanted greater clarity about what Halls Gap needed to do to secure one.
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