Wagga's bulk container return to get easier with council's trailer available for hire

With a capacity of up to 3000 cans and bottles, it has the potential to return $250-$300 to the sporting club or community venture.

The trailer is available for hire through the council and can be picked up from the Glenfield Animal Shelter.

St Vincent de Paul's newly opened bulk-return station in East Wagga will process the filled trailer within a matter of mere minutes.

"All the money goes back to the community group," said council's recycling educator Sam Pascall.

"It's an easy simple way instead of standing at the vending machine trying to push through thousands of cans. You can do it all in one hit," said Ms Pascall.

"At these local community groups waste is always a big problem, so if we can recycle as much as we can," Ms Pascall said.

"For the community group [it means] getting that extra bit of cash.

"Most of these events are held in the CBD or sporting grounds and we want to keep them clean for the next event and throughout the week after the events over."

While the city continues its growing obsession with its return-and-earn schemes, however, a question remains over the legitimacy of its recycling.

Since January 2018, China's import ban on Australia's recycling has resulted in tonnes of recyclables being diverted to landfill or unused stockpiles.

Last month, India compounded the problem with the decision to also ban recyclable imports.

Wagga Council has admitted it cannot be sure where the city's recycling is ending up, but last month, the CEO of Kurrajong Waste Recycling assured against the worry.

"Most of our recycling is getting through, so I'd say it's not so much a problem here, it's more an issue for metro areas like Sydney and Melbourne," said Ray Carroll, CEO Kurrajong Recycling.

Some of the city's recycling is channelled to Tumut, but the majority ends up in Sydney or Melbourne. What happens from there is unknown.

"We have to find more end markets for our recycling in our own country, to save it from landfill entirely," Mr Carroll said.

Although there is currently only one bulk-return trailer available in Wagga, a review of the public's uptake may dictate any additional services in the future. These will likely feature freshly minted artwork too.

Rachel Viski from The Rock designed the colourful wrap around the city's current trailer.

Her work has become well known around the city, primarily to visitors of the paediatrics ward of Wagga Base Hospital.

Self-described as a 'recycling nerd' and an enthusiast of abstract expressionism, Ms Viski said it was an exciting brief to receive.

"The design is inspired by the fact that as communities, back in time we always try to find ways to preserve food," she said.

"But, as a result of preserving food and creating communities, we've created this issue of waste.

"The artwork is showing that products over time have changed to suit an audience."

The back of the trailer, which portrays the evolution of the ring-pull can, is the artist's own favourite.

Her amusement stemming from the enormous differences through generations.

The earliest incarnations of the can featured dangerously jagged metal edges, whilst the latest arrivals cleanly remove the entire top.

The concept celebrates the history of cans and bottles, and the evolution of each, which she said required an enormous amount of research.