Let's pay tribute to these pillars of our communities | State politics

Women who contribute to local areas are the pillars of their communities. They selflessly dedicate their time and energy to make a positive difference.

I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions these women are making in their communities with dedication and passion, and thank them for all their amazing work.

I encourage everyone to participate in a local International Women's Day event.

There is something for everyone - from golf workshops in Oberon to an Indigenous art exhibition in Lithgow to a theatre performance in Bathurst.

THE Return and Earn scheme has reached a milestone of 11 billion containers recycled.

Thanks to the incredible support of the community, visiting the local return point has become a way of life, resulting in millions of dollars in container refunds going back into people's pockets.

Charities, local community groups and schools are also benefiting from the scheme: a massive $54 million has been raised statewide for charities and community groups via donated refunds and return point hosting fees.

There have been 190,103,483 containers recycled in the Bathurst electorate alone.

The positive impact of recycling containers into new containers rather than using virgin materials is equivalent to:

With all plastic and glass drink containers collected through the network recycled in Australia, Return and Earn has become a leading contributor to our growing domestic circular economy.