Don't Kiss This Frog
Donate your drink containers instead. The real magic happens when you drop them at our CDS Vic Bins to help fight frog extinction.
The real magic isn’t in a kiss, but in something much more powerful: donating your containers. Once upon a time, frogs were abundant and indicated a healthy thriving ecosystem. But today, many of Victoria’s frog species and their habitats are in trouble.
That’s why Zoos Victoria has partnered with Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme to help fight frog extinction. By returning your eligible drink containers, you’re helping fund critical conservation work at Zoos Victoria, giving local threatened amphibians a chance at their own happily ever after.
With nearly 3 billion drink containers consumed each year, too many end up polluting the very ecosystems frogs rely on. Through this partnership, we can reduce waste, restore habitats and fund critical conservation efforts, all while empowering Victorians to take simple, rewarding actions for the planet.
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containers donated to fight frog extinction this year
How can you help fight frog extinction?
1. Purchase at the Zoo
All eligible drink containers purchased across Healesville Sanctuary, Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo are collected and processed through Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme ensuring every eligible can and bottle helps fight frog extinction. It’s a small act that creates a big impact.
Step 1: Purchase a drink across our retail outlets.
Step 2: Follow the frog! Donate your eligible containers into a designated Don’t Kiss This Frog bin.
Step 3: Repeat to help fight frog extinction.
2. Bring your containers to Melbourne Zoo
Next time you visit Melbourne Zoo, bring your eligible drink containers to our large Victorian Container Deposit Scheme bins on site located at Main Gate and Rail Gate. All containers donated through the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme will have proceeds going directly towards helping fight frog extinction.
Step 1: Collect your eligible drink containers
Step 2: Bring your eligible drink containers to Melbourne Zoo and donate through one of our Vic CDS bins on site
Step 3: Repeat to help fight frog extinction.
3. Donate in your community
You can also donate your own containers at refund points across Victoria by selecting Zoos Victoria as your preferred donation partner.
Victorian Container Deposit Scheme allows Victorians to return eligible drink containers for a 10-cent refund at approved refund points across the state. This small refund adds up quickly. And with our partnership, that money can be donated directly to help fight frog extinction.
Step 1: Collect eligible drink containers
Step 2: Take them to a nearby CDS Vic refund point
Step 3: Select Zoos Victoria as your Donation Partner (use the CDS Vic app or kiosk)
Frequently asked questions
Frogs are vital indicators of ecosystem health, if frogs are thriving, it means our wetlands, forests and waterways are too. Victoria’s native frog species including the Giant Burrowing Frog are facing serious threats from habitat loss, climate change and disease. By donating your containers, you’re not just helping frogs, you’re helping restore the habitats they call home. Because when frogs thrive, entire ecosystems do too.
Kids grow up on stories where frogs become princes, but in the real world, frogs don’t need your kisses, they need your help. Through donating eligible containers through Zoos Victoria’s partnership with Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme, all refunds will go towards Zoos Victoria’s conservation work and that’s where the real magic happens.
At Zoos Victoria we are playing a major role in frog conservation. This includes monitoring existing populations, researching the role of chytrid fungus in the decline of frog numbers, habitat restoration and breeding programs where these critically endangered Victorian amphibians are reintroduced into the wild. Your donations will help extend our reach, research and releasing into the wild at Melbourne Zoo's Amphibian Bushfire Recovery Centre and Healesville Sanctuary’s Threatened Amphibian Biolab.
Each year, nearly 3 billion containers are used in Victoria! Together, we’re turning waste into habitat restoration and frog-saving action.
You can:
- Purchase and donate at our Zoo outlets.
- Bring eligible containers from home to Melbourne Zoo.
- Drop them at a CDS Vic refund point and select Zoos Victoria as your Donation Partner.
Most aluminium, glass, plastic, and liquid paperboard drink containers between 150ml and 3L. Look for the 10c mark on the drink container label, often located near the barcode.
Find a full list of eligible containers here.
PRO TIP: Keep your bottle lids on, as they are recyclable too!
PRO TIP: Avoid damaging or crushing your containers. Crushed cans make it hard to read the barcodes, meaning they might not be accepted at refund points.
No! Any eligible container works, no matter where it was purchased.
Yes! Melbourne Zoo hosts Zoos Victorias large Victorian Container Deposit Scheme bins on site located near the Main Gate and Rail Gate for our visitors and members to donate their eligible containers. All containers donated through these bins will have proceeds going directly towards helping fight frog extinction.
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You can donate your containers at refund points across Victoria by selecting Zoos Victoria as your preferred donation partner.
Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme allows Victorians to return eligible drink containers — like plastic bottles, cans and cartons for a 10-cent refund at approved refund points across the state.
This small refund adds up quickly. And with our partnership, that money can be donated directly to help fight frog extinction.
Collect your eligible drink containers at home or work, then simply:
- Take them to a nearby CDS Vic refund point
- Select Zoos Victoria as your Donation Partner (use the CDS Vic app or kiosk)
- Deposit your containers and watch your 10c per item help fight frog extinction
There are currently over 600 refund points across Victoria, including reverse vending machines, over the counter sites and depots. Find your nearest location here
It makes donating simple, but not essential. You can also select Zoos Victoria as your Donation Partner at participating refund points.
Our CDS Vic bins are located across Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Open Range Zoo, just follow the frog signage when you visit. Melbourne Zoo is our only site currently accepting larger donations point through our large CDS Vic bins located at both entries.
Yes, all eligible containers purchased at our Zoo outlets are collected and donated. For larger donations, there is a Reverse Vending Machine located outside Healesville Sanctuary on Glen Eadie Avenue. For Werribee Open Range Zoo the closest Reverse Vending Machine is located at Wyndham City Civic Centre and Function Centre.
Your returned drink containers can be transformed into all kinds of new things – including new eligible containers.
They can also be given a new life, transformed into material for roads, furniture, construction, textiles and more.
Here’s how it works:
Zone Operators sort returned containers into material types before transporting them to be processed.
The sorted containers are then transported to a processing facility, where the processor prepares the material for recycling.
Recyclers then purchase the materials to recycle them into new products. This includes new glass and PET bottles, aluminum cans and other items like clothing and plastic-based construction items.
When the materials are recycled into a new eligible container, the circular economy journey starts again!