Extended Producer Responsibility gets talked about a lot. What happens less often is a major brand owner taking concrete, visible action on home turf.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Australia has installed a public-facing Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) at its Northmead production facility in Western Sydney. Operated in partnership with Return and Earn, the New South Wales Government’s container deposit initiative, the machine pays out the standard 10-cent (Australian) refund for eligible containers and is open daily to local residents and CCEP employees alike.
Not the First, But Building Momentum
CCEP installed its first production-site RVM at Moorabbin, Victoria in November 2025. By February 2026 it had collected more than 144,000 beverage containers — enough to justify pushing ahead with Northmead, with more sites planned.
Australia has been running Container Deposit Schemes (CDS) for nearly 50 years, making it one of the more mature markets globally for deposit-refund infrastructure. What’s new here is the deliberate co-location of return points with manufacturing: closing the loop in a way that’s tangible rather than theoretical.
Why It Matters
Consumer participation in deposit schemes hinges on convenience. Siting return points at production facilities addresses the fact that, for a well-defined community, costs are borne by the producer rather than the consumer, and makes accountability visible.
CCEP is also a founding partner of Circular Plastics Australia (PET), a joint venture with Pact Group, Cleanaway and Asahi Beverages operating two PET recycling facilities with a combined capacity equivalent to two billion 600ml bottles annually. The RVM network feeds directly into that material recovery chain.
The Broader Lesson
EPR is moving from voluntary commitment to regulatory requirement across multiple markets, with the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) as the most prominent current example. Brands will increasingly need to demonstrate operational commitment, not just financial contributions to a central compliance fund.
Siting return infrastructure at your own facilities won’t be right for every producer. But the principle – that EPR should translate into visible, accessible action – is one the whole industry will be working through in the years ahead. CCEP’s approach in Australia is a good start.
