Orange's new Return and Earn centre has been dubbed the "best in Australia".
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The large-format facility is a first for the city and operated by not-for-profit disability service Wangarang Industries.
Since opening at the beginning of March, more than 800,000 bottles, cans and cartons have been brought in.
James Dorney - CEO of Tomra Cleanaway, network operator for the NSW container deposit scheme Return and Earn, likened the centre's long-awaited opening to that of the building of Rome, noting how neither were "built in a day".
"It's been a very long journey but I look around this site and I tell you, it's absolutely brilliant," he said at the grand opening on March 27.
"To think we were standing in an open field not too long ago is quite remarkable."
The Forest Road centre is the 40th automated depot in operation across NSW.
Mr Dorney believed it "could quite possibly" be the best in the state.
Chairman of the Wangarang board, Gary Norton, went one step further.
"I actually think we can go much better, best in Australia," he added, garnering a round of applause from nearly 100 members of the community who came out to the event.
Wangarang employs roughly 120 people with disabilities.
It also support about 50 individuals, providing recreational services and life skills.
"It's not pretend employment, it's direct employment," Mr Norton said.
"This isn't just about earning income, this is about giving more meaningful jobs to real people who have real abilities."
The Return and Earn facility itself - which cost around $3 million to build - has created half-a-dozen jobs so far, but there will be 24 supported employees who will be job sharing at the site.
How does it work?
Instead of feeding individual cans and bottles into a machine like the ones in Endsleigh Avenue and North Orange Woolworths, people have the ability to pour hundreds of renewable items onto a sorting tray at once.
From there the machine - and Wangarang workers - do all the work.
Bottles and cans are fed along a conveyor belt which automatically where they are sorted into separate recycling containers.
And while the facility opened with just two such machines, Mr Norton expected a third would be up and running "in the coming months" while a fourth could be available by the end of 2024.
Prior to its opening, the closest bulk facility was located in Bathurst.
On top of the 10c given for every item returned, the facility provider also gets 5c from the scheme.
Mr Norton estimated that as a result, Orange community members was giving the Bathurst operator somewhere between $800,000 and $1 million per year.
"This facility is bringing that funding, back to this community, to Wangarang," he added.
The Forest Road site is open from 8am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday and 8am until 4pm on Saturdays.