2026 Tidy Towns Litter Finalist - Rochester Lions Container Deposit Scheme
When Rochester lost its container recycling collection point, the Lions Club didn't wait for someone else to fix it. They opened a shed on Baynes Street and ran it themselves.
Staffed entirely by volunteers, the depot takes cans, bottles and plastics, counts them by hand, and pays residents in cash, EFT, or donations to charity, with a handling fee from the scheme going straight back into the local community. What's grown alongside it is arguably just as valuable: four Year 9 students attend weekly, along with a work experience student and Duke of Edinburgh participants, learning what running a small community enterprise actually looks like.
The club set an initial target of filling 20 bins a week. They're now filling 20 to 30, comfortably ahead of plan, and open six days a week. A community day with a barbecue and kids' activities drew a strong crowd, and a Facebook page keeps locals engaged between visits.
What the Lions have learned, in their own words, is simply how much fun it is. The environmental win came bundled with something they didn't expect: a genuinely enjoyable partnership between a service club, a secondary school, and a town that needed somewhere to take its bottles.
The X-factor is community participation under the Club's steady guidance, turning a lost service into a stronger one.
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