The RVM was installed at Metro Petroleum in South Bathurst on December 22, and it immediately attracted complaints that it created shocking noise pollution and resulted in the community dumping rubbish at the site.

Earlier this week, Bathurst Regional councillor Alex Christian joined the residents’ calls for the RVM to be relocated.

“If the State Government has any consideration for residents, it needs to be moved,” he said.

However, in a letter Torch Street residents received on Monday, network operator TOMRA Cleanaway announced that following “concerns” it was “actively seeking an alternate site in Bathurst” for the RVM.

Department of Premier and Cabinet's Ray Partridge, along with TOMRA Cleanaway and the NSW Environment Protection Authority, met with residents on site on Tuesday and said the NSW Government did the “best it could” in providing Bathurst a RVM.

“There was a desire to get something into key regional centres and we did the best we could with the time frames,” he said.

“It will be relocated within a week or so … we think we’ve got some more ideal sites, some better sites, and when they’re up and running we’ll decommission this one.”

Mr Partridge would not confirm how much the relocation of the RVM would cost taxpayers, but said: “Given the size of the [Return and Earn] program it would be insignificant compared to what’s happening across the state.”

Bathurst MP Paul Toole said there would now be three new locations for RVMs across the city.

They will be placed at the Bathurst Community Op Shop in Kelso, Service NSW and Bathurst Recycling in Upfold Street, Gormans Hill.

​“These are three strategically-placed locations which give the community options,” Mr Toole said.

“They’ll be operational and turned on next week.”

Torch Street resident Linda Aldwinckle was at Tuesday’s community, and said she was happy with the outcome.

“I’m very pleased in that having a say action was taken,” she said.

DESPITE extensive complaints about Bathurst’s RVM, Mr Partridge said the statewide initiative to reduce waste had been a success.

Recently, in just one day, 1.7 million items were returned to RVMs across the state.

“An expected 40 million items [will be returned] by the end of the week across NSW, and that’s across the first six weeks of it being introduced,” Mr Partridge.

As Return and Earn is a new initiative for the NSW Government, he said those involved are learning more as the the rollout continues.

“We don’t have experience of how to do this … we’re learning as we go and we’re getting smarter and smarter as we go,” Mr Partridge said.

He said Bathurst was not the only Return and Earn location to have complaints, and said issues across the state have included: litter, collection frequency, location and size of RVMs.

Return and Earn was launched on December 1, and the NSW Government had promised to have 85 per cent of the proposed 500 Return and Earn sites up and running by that date.

However, just 230 sites were operational, with 185 of them located within Sydney.

Mr Partridge said there are now 336 operational sites across NSW.

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:

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.