Return and Earn Bathurst is in the wrong location: Residents | Video, photos, pictures

The initiative offers people a 10 cent refund for each acceptable bottle or can in an effort to reduce litter across NSW.

But, since the RVM was installed at the Metro Petroleum service station, on the corner of Rocket and Torch streets, nearby residents say it has caused shocking noise pollution.

More than 74,000 bottles and cans have already been returned to Bathurst’s RVM, with more than 12,000 individual items on just one day.

Since the RVM arrived, a large, noise recycling truck has pulled into Torch Street at 4.30am every day and woken residents with the sounds of smashing bottles as the bins are emptied.

“It wakes me up every morning and it’s a startling noise,” resident Richard Nancarrow said.

“The truck will also come a few times during the day.”

A NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) spokeswoman said network operator Tomra Cleanaway has responded to the “issues” and will now “service the site from 6am”.

Residents say the site has also become a dumping ground for shopping trolleys, rubbish and items not accepted by the machine, as well as creating traffic concerns.

Linda Aldwinckle, who also lives on Torch Street, said: “the repetitive clunk, clunk of bottles landing in the waste bins is continual throughout the day.”

“[It’s] given rise to a shocking level of noise pollution that is causing serious concern among the nearby residents,” she said.

“The number of cars being parked haphazardly on the busy corner, blocking easy access into the service station and proving dangerous to pedestrians, is a growing problem.”

Metro Petroleum owner Raja Kallem has his own complaints about the RVM, and said not only was his business site now littered with rubbish, but he had been left out of pocket.

Earlier this week he was owned more than $6400 for providing 10 cent an item refunds to customers over-the-counter before the RVM was installed.

He has since been paid $4464 in back payments.

“I’m a little fed up with this whole system. I’m spending more time on this than the service station,” Mr Kallem said.

“I’m totally frustrated and I’m running out of cash.”

The EPA spokeswoman said following the string of complaints, larger rubbish bins would now be installed and the the site manager would be engaged to assist with cleaning the area.

“The head of finance at TOMRA has been in contact with the operator to work through this issue of reported amounts owing,” she said.

Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said there are plans to bring a second RVM to Bathurst.

The Container Deposit Scheme rewards consumers for returning containers, cans and bottles to designated recycling points with a 10 cent refund per eligible container. The refund can be:

Collected containers will be processed through a counting and sorting centre in Western Sydney.

They will then be recycled and sold into both domestic and export markets. Recovering these resources will create a closed loop, making a sustainable future possible.

The majority of containers covered under this scheme are beverage containers ranging from 150 millilitres to three litres. Containers can be made from:

Containers that are not included in the Scheme and, therefore, do not qualify for a refund are:

These exceptions are like those in the South Australian and Northern Territory container deposit schemes, to aid consistency.