Wine bottles and milk cartons to be part of container deposit scheme

The Northern Territory’s container deposit scheme will be expanded to any beverage container up to three litres, covering items previously excluded such as wine and spirit bottles and milk cartons, the Finocchiaro Government has said, but the wine industry has said the change couldn’t come at a worse time.

Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne said new legislation was introduced into parliament on Wednesday with the changes to come into effect within six months of the bill passing to ensure industry readiness.

Those changes expand the 10 cent refunds to any beverage container up to three litres, covering items previously excluded such as wine bottles, spirit bottles and milk cartons.

“Since the scheme began in 2012, Territorians have cashed in more than one billion containers, returning