The Douglas Shire is not alone in taking advantage of the refund scheme with the whole of Queensland recycling in overwhelming numbers.

Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Leeanne Enoch, said almost 50 million drink containers have been returned across the state since the scheme began.

“This means that in its first month alone, almost $5 million has gone back into Queenslanders’ pockets as well as to our charities, schools, community groups, and sporting clubs,” she said.

Minister Enoch said with an average of more than 1.5 million containers being returned to refund points each day, there are substantially less containers ending up in landfill, waterways, and into the environment as litter.

“Queenslanders use nearly three billion containers every year and sadly they are the second most commonly littered item in the environment, despite the fact they can be easily recycled.”

Douglas Shire businesses have also eagerly adopted the scheme and are recycling their containers in large numbers.

General Manager of the Court House and Central Hotels in Port Douglas, Charles Warren, said his staff are using the scheme to dispose of the many drink containers that pass through the establishments.

“We are separating the containers from the normal waste, so we are recycling instead of just throwing it all into the general rubbish,” he said.

“We're now separating the recycling containers and then sending those down to the Craiglie recycling depot. 

“It reduces our costs because we won't have as much rubbish going out in the normal waste, which we get charged for by volume.”

Port Douglas Recycling is located at warehouse 13, 7-9 Pioneer Close, Craiglie, and is open to the public from 10am to 4pm everyday, except Tuesdays.