Recycle Rewards Goodwood opens: Drive-through undercover container collection helps keep Tasmania clean

Tasmania’s first southern Recycle Rewards Depot has officially opened, promising cash in pockets, jobs for locals with a disability and cleaner streets for everyone.

Team leader Clint Foster and Seed worker Arthur Sutcliffe at the new recycling facility at Goodwood. Picture: Linda Higginson

Tasmania’s first southern Recycle Rewards Depot has officially opened, promising cash in pockets, jobs for locals with a disability and cleaner streets for everyone.

The undercover, drive‑through hub on Hornby Road in Goodwood lets motorists unload boot‑loads of drink containers and instantly reclaim the 10‑cent refund – as cash, a bank transfer via the Recycle Rewards app or a donation to any registered charity.

Social Enterprise, Employment and Diversity (SEED) will run the depot and use the steady stream of cans and bottles to create paid work and training for Tasmanians with disability. “This collaboration has already opened doors for our crew and connected us with businesses keen to back our collection service,” Nexus CEO Mark Jessop said.

“Now that we’re officially open, we’re excited to see what happens next.”

The site, open 9am to 4pm weekdays and 8am to noon Saturdays, is the latest addition to a network of 43 refund points which have seen more than 12 million containers returned since the scheme launched on May 1 – half of them from southern Tassie alone.

TasRecycle chief executive Ken Roughley said the Goodwood depot showed how the program was “creating clean streams of recycling and keeping our beautiful state in a beautiful state,” while also delivering “employment, training and fundraising opportunities for people with disability”.

Team leader Clint Foster and Seed worker Arthur Sutcliffe at the new recycling facility at Goodwood. Picture: Linda Higginson

Early data reveal aluminium is king, making up 63 per cent of returns, followed by plastic (21 per cent) and glass (14 per cent).

Claremont Plaza and Bridgewater’s Cove Hill centres remain the busiest sites, but organisers expect Goodwood to ease the pressure as word spreads.

The opening follows the rollout of refund points in the north and north‑west, where schools, surf lifesaving clubs and country footy teams have been turning empty cans into weekend fundraisers and new goalposts.

TOMRA Cleanaway boss James Dorney praised the brisk take‑up.

“Tasmanians have shown a real appetite for a circular economy and should be proud of their achievement so far,” he said.

Partnering with SEED, he added, delivered “jobs for Tasmanians with disability, refunds into the back pockets of Tasmanians and less litter and landfill locally. What an exceptional outcome”.

With recycling now as simple as a short detour off the Brooker Highway, organisers are urging families, businesses and sporting clubs to cash in their next bag of empties or sign up as donation partners to supercharge fundraising drives.

Details on eligible containers and depot locations at recyclerewards.com.au.