What changed on 7 October
The Mutual Recognition Act 1992 sets a default between the states: under section 9, goods
that may lawfully be sold in one state may be sold in another without the necessity for
compliance with further requirements
. Section 10 says those further requirements include
standards about how goods are presented, including, for example, requirements relating to
their packaging, labelling, date stamping or age
. A law listed in Schedule 2 of the Act is
a permanent exemption: section 14 says the goods Part of the Act does not affect the
operation of laws described in Schedule 2
.
The Mutual
Recognition Amendment (Victorian Container Deposit Scheme) Regulations 2026, dated
1 October and registered on 6 October, add item 39 to that schedule: Part 6 of
Victoria’s Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, the rest of that
Act so far as it relates to the container deposit scheme Part 6 sets up, and regulations or
other instruments made under it so far as they relate to the scheme. The regulations commence
the day after registration, which the instrument records as 7 October 2026. A
matching
set adds the same laws to Schedule 2 of the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997, under
a new heading, Container deposit scheme
, on the same dates.
- F2026L01364: Mutual Recognition Act 1992, Schedule 2, new item 39
- F2026L01363: Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997, Schedule 2, new “Container deposit scheme” heading
- Both cover Part 6 of Victoria’s Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, and the rest of that Act and its instruments so far as they relate to the scheme
The explanatory statements say what the change is for. The interstate one says
The Regulations implement the decision of all jurisdictions to permanently exempt the
Scheme from the operation of the Act.
Each states the effect in one sentence.
“Amendment to the Act means that beverage containers imported into Victoria from other states and territories will have to comply with the Scheme.”
The trans-Tasman statement’s version: Amendment to the Act means that beverage
containers imported into Victoria from New Zealand will have to comply with the Scheme.
Where Victoria sits on the list
Victoria is the latest container deposit law on Schedule 2, not the first. The compiled Act in force from 1 May 2025 to 6 October 2026 already listed South Australia’s Beverage Container Act 1975 at item 8, and items 34 to 38 for the container deposit schemes of the Northern Territory, New South Wales, the ACT, Western Australia and Tasmania. Its legislation history, with the 2013 regulation that inserted item 34, dates each of those five additions.
- Item 8, date not tracedSouth Australia: Beverage Container Act 1975
- 9 August 2013Item 34, Northern Territory
- 22 November 2017Item 35, New South Wales
- 7 December 2018Item 36, Australian Capital Territory
- 19 September 2020Item 37, Western Australia
- 1 May 2025Item 38, Tasmania (regulations registered 4 January 2024)
- 7 October 2026Item 39, Victoria (registered 6 October 2026)
Victoria’s entry arrives well after its scheme’s supply rules began. VicReturn, the
scheme coordinator, says on its supplier
page: Since 1 November 2023, it is an offence under Section 110 of the Act to supply eligible
containers in Victoria without entering into a Supply Arrangement with VicReturn.
From
1 November 2023 to 7 October 2026 is 1,071 days, a little under three years (our
arithmetic).
The Act does allow a state a stopgap. Section 15 lets a state declare its own temporary
exemption, but caps it: No such exemption operates (together with the period of any previous
exemption) for longer than a period of 12 months or an aggregate period of 12 months.
We have
not established whether Victoria declared one.
What Victoria’s Act asks of a drinks container
Two offences in Part 6 of the Circular
Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 bear on a drinks label. Section 105 is the
marking: A supplier must not, without reasonable excuse, supply or offer to supply to any
person a beverage in a suitable eligible container that does not bear a refund marking.
The
Act defines a refund marking as a prescribed marking or label
, and a suitable eligible
container as one approved under section 99(3).
Section 110 is the paperwork: a person must not supply a beverage in an eligible container unless a supply arrangement is in force with the Scheme Coordinator and the container is approved as a suitable eligible container. Both carry the same maximum: 500 penalty units for a natural person and 2,500 for a body corporate, and both are civil penalty provisions. Section 105 is not new; it is in the version of the Act in force from 1 November 2023 in the same words.
- 2,500 penalty units for a body corporate; 500 for a natural person ($104,550)
- Dollar amounts are our arithmetic at the Victorian penalty unit value of $209.10 for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027
The wording a supplier sees is plainer. EPA Victoria’s
eligible
container guide says most aluminium, glass, plastic and liquid paperboard beverage containers
between 150 ml and 3 L are eligible, and tells consumers: Look for the 10c refund mark on the
label to see if the container can be redeemed.
The Commonwealth’s explanatory statement
describes the requirement as containers that need to display the prescribed barcode and be
approved by the Scheme coordinator
; the Victorian Act as in force from 1 July 2026 gives
container approval to the Authority, the Environment Protection Authority.
The scheme behind the mark
VicReturn’s statutory report for 2024-25 gives the scale. It counts 856 supply arrangements in place at 30 June 2025, and first suppliers contributed $390.9 million to the scheme in the year (excluding GST), a weighted average of 12.53 cents a container. The redemption rate averaged 62 per cent for the year.
Most of that volume is aluminium, PET and glass. Liquid paperboard, the carton, was 5.0 per cent of volume and $20.2 million of contributions.
What it means for a print business
Our view. The exemption changes what a supplier can argue, not what the label needs. The refund marking has been an offence provision in Victoria’s Act since the version in force from 1 November 2023. What 7 October takes away, for this scheme, is the Mutual Recognition Act’s general rule that goods lawfully sold in one state need not meet another state’s packaging and labelling requirements, and the Commonwealth says plainly that interstate and New Zealand containers will have to comply.
For a printer or converter running drinks labels or cartons for a brand outside Victoria, the sensible move is to treat the 10c refund mark as a standing line in the spec for any eligible container that might be sold in Victoria, rather than a question for each run. The offences are written against whoever supplies the beverage, not the printer, and the approval and supply arrangement are the supplier’s to hold. But a label printed without the mark is the cheapest point at which the problem could have been caught, and asking a client whether the container is approved for Victoria costs one email.