Albury now has three places to gain a refund for bottles and cans, but the well-used site at Norris Park IGA has closed.
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I think it's an absolutely awesome idea, nearly everybody I know uses the facility
- Jan Imlach, about the Return and Earn scheme
The reverse vending machine that opened at the North Albury supermarket in December is being relocated to the rear of Albury Police Citizens Youth Club on Keene Street.
Another machine has opened at Coles Lavington while the original installation at Springdale Heights IGA continues to operate.
TOMRA-Cleanaway, the contractor, confirmed the changes but did not respond to questions why the North Albury machine was moved.
Norris Park IGA owner Gary Evans was on leave and unavailable for comment.
Advertising suggested the North Albury machine would close Thursday night but it did not operate throughout the day.
North Albury’s Jan Imlach was among those who visited the machine to find it wasn’t working.
“I actually thought I was lucky (at first), because no one was there, and thought ‘Bewdy, I can get in’,” she said.
“It’s very hard to get in because there’s always queues of people lined up. They’ve also got lots of cans, so you’re waiting for ages to use it.”
Ms Imlach was pleased to hear a third machine had opened and supported the Return and Earn scheme overall.
“I think it’s great, I think it’s an absolutely awesome idea, nearly everybody I know uses the facility,” she said.
Albury PCYC manager Di Ovens said the relocated machine, between PCYC and Lauren Jackson Sports Centre, would start operating on Saturday.
TOMRA approached the club about hosting a machine, with consumers to have the option of donating their bottle and can earnings to PCYC.
“TOMRA takes care of the machines, they service the machines twice a day, they empty the machines twice a day, there’s no added burden at all to PCYC, it’s a benefit for us,” Mrs Ovens said.
“They’ve assured me for the first few weeks, they actually have people coming out four times a day to make sure the area is kept tidy and clean.”
Corowa club will host new machine
A new reverse vending machine has been installed in Corowa and will be operational within days.
The machine, located in the car park of Corowa RSL, will allow people to redeem container deposit refunds on eligible bottles and cans.
Corowa RSL chief executive Peter Norris said discussions began with the contractor TOMRA-Cleanaway a couple of weeks ago.
“We’re a community hub, being a local club and in the centre of town and we’ve got plenty of space,” he said.
“This is probably a little bit easier to access for a lot of the residents. It will no doubt be well used.”
The machine takes up five car park spaces, but is not near the club entrance.
Mr Norris said staff members were prepared to receive some initial queries about the machine’s use.
“It’s on our site, so we’ll take some responsibility,” the chief executive said.
“The only other concern that we had was the tidiness around the unit, so we’ve negotiated to have the space cleaned three times per day.
“We certainly wouldn’t have considered it if we thought it was going to become messy and untidy.”