Wine industry sour on return and earn

However, the wine industry opposes an expansion into its sector, saying it will deliver little environmental benefit and could cost smaller, family-owned businesses tens of millions of dollars.

The poll results present an opportunity for the states and territories to broaden the scheme together, Total Environment Centre director Jeff Angel told AAP.

"If combined action is not possible ... or there are local political factors stifling movement, then one or two states should act unilaterally," Mr Angel said.

"That should drag everyone else along."

In October, the NSW government proposed expanding its Return and Earn scheme to include wine and spirit bottles, which would mean another 400 million containers would be recycled every year. 

Public consultation for the NSW plan closed earlier this month.

South Australia also announced a renewal of its container deposit scheme in August, including possibly including glass containers.

South Australia's container deposit scheme, first introduced in 1977, does not accept wine bottles.

The NSW Wine Industry Association strongly opposed expanding the scheme earlier this year, when submissions were taken for possibly including wine bottles.

"We are currently modelling the real costs to industry and at this stage we fear it will be higher than the $30m estimate," president of the NSW Wine Industry Association Mark Bourne said.

The association now believes that cost will be about $45 million.

Mr Angel said concerns by wine producers the scheme would prove too financially burdensome were largely unfounded.

He acknowledged the impact on small producers could be legitimate and suggested adjusting the scheme so their costs were minimised.

Container refund programs have proven superior methods of recycling, producing higher-quality recycled products, Mr Angel said.

"The aim of the container refund scheme is to produce high-value material, which they do, because they cleanly separate the beverage containers out."

NSW's Return and Earn scheme was launched in 2017, with cash paybacks for the program funded by beverage companies. 

Since its launch, the scheme has paid out $800 million with close to 80 per cent of adults in the state returning their bottles at some point, NSW Environment Minister James Griffin said this month.

"While Return and Earn is only five years old, it has already achieved huge success, with more than eight billion containers returned in the last five years," Mr Griffin said.

"It has delivered a massive 755,000 tonnes of additional material for recycling already, helping remove these containers from becoming landfill or litter."

Any company that sells drinks in containers is obligated to register those bottles and cans and enter an agreement with NSW's Return and Earn scheme.

The online poll, by Lightspeed Research, surveyed 1228 people between December 1 and 6.