There's great news on the way for wine and spirit drinkers who like to do their bit for recycling.

In a major boost to recycling efforts across NSW, the highly-popular Return and Earn container deposit scheme is set to expand to accept wine and spirit bottles as well as some other larger drink containers as well.

This is designed to allow more residents and businesses to profit from the 10-cent refund for returning a wider range of bottles and containers, while making it a smoother transition for industry.

The expansion will allow a further half a billion additional beverage containers to be theoretically returned each year and saved from landfill.

These new containers will not be accepted at refund points immediately, however, with the changes to be enacted by late-2027, NSW Minister for Environment Penny Sharpe said.

“The Container Deposit Scheme is fantastic for the environment, great for our recycling industry and also puts money back in people’s pockets. It’s also incredibly popular with more and more items collected every year,” Ms Sharpe said.

“By expanding to include more types of beverages, it’s estimated at least 27,000 tonnes of materials will be saved from landfill each year in NSW,” she added.

The container deposit program in the next two years is to grow to include wine and spirits glass bottles, cordial and juice concentrate containers, and larger flavoured milk, fruit and vegetable juice bottles.

“It’s really important that people don’t try to take their wine bottles to a Return and Earn machine tomorrow,” Ms Sharpe said.

“We’re working with industry to ensure a smooth transition and to ensure return systems will be ready to handle the new containers by mid-2027,” she concluded.