Murray River Council are in the initial stages of planning for the build of an Automated Depot at Moama's Waste Management Facility to assist with processing items under the NSW Container Deposit Scheme.
Automated Depots house machines that process large volumes of containers, sort them, count them and provide refunds to users.
Murray River Council Acting Mayor, Frank Crawley said the project is part of Council's long-term waste management strategy.
"The community identified that they are looking for more options to process bulk quantities of containers through Return and Earn, so we have been investigating the Automated Depot project over the past 12 months."
"This was further cemented through the development of our Community Strategic Plan whereby several actions around recycling and waste management were highlighted."
"Through research and visiting other sites with similar equipment, we are confident that an Automated Depot will meet the needs of our community members looking to deposit large amounts of containers," he said.
Council's new Automated Depot will process bulk amounts of containers, catering to larger users who can just tip their bags, bins, or boxes full of containers into the depot's machine rather than individually putting every container into a reverse vending machine.
"This diverts any bulk-use customers and allows more of the community to participate and collect a return in an easier fashion," Cr Crawley.
Once site and shed designs are complete, Council will release the tender for construction.
"We are hoping to release the tender for construction later this year, so all going well, we may see the facility in 12-18 months' time," Cr Crawley said.
"We know our community are enthusiastic recyclers, so we look forward to providing more updates on this project as it progresses."
