Cash in recyclables at Vinnies' second Hunter-based return and earn depot

The new bulk processing facility is designed to quickly process up to 100,000 containers per day.

Across NSW last financial year, Vinnies' ten Return and Earn sites processed 109 million containers delivering $10.9 million in direct refunds to customers within local communities.

At the same time, they have generated $1.46 million to support the Society's programs and services.

It is the second Vinnies depot in the Hunter, the first at Cardiff which processes over 500,000 containers a week.

The 10 cent refund for each container being paid to customers returns more than $50,000 into the Cardiff community on a weekly basis.

Vinnies has helped more than 13,000 people in need in the Maitland/Newcastle region in the last financial year, distributing more than $1.5 million in financial and material assistance over the past six months alone.

Of those, 30 per cent are of people coming to Vinnies for assistance for the first time, nearly half (47 per cent) citing housing stress and nearly all (95 per cent) in need of help with food.

In a partnership with Return and Earn operator TOMRA Cleanaway, Vinnies has been involved with the scheme since its launch six years ago.

Yolanda Saiz, St Vincent de Paul Society NSW CEO, said the local community had responded quickly since the depot, on Racecourse Road at Rutherford, opened in April.

"The funds are going straight back into helping us provide care and assistance to people doing it tough, to help with household bills, with food, rent, and into supporting our services," MS Saiz said.