New figures show a single "reverse vending machine" in the Woolies car park in Queanbeyan had 8.7 million cans and bottles returned in its first year of operation. At 10¢ refunded per item, that adds up to a total of $870,000 to recyclers in 12 months.

That translates into an average of about 24,000 cans and bottles returned every day to the one machine.

It's not clear how much of the cash is kept by the zealous army of recyclers or how much they choose to give to charities.

Some Queanbeyan recyclers say their machine is so attractive people are coming over the border from the ACT to recycle in NSW. This, they resent.