In a startling similarity to a classic Seinfeld plot, a New South Wales man has been convicted and fined with attempting to bring drink cans into South Australia to reap the financial rewards of the state's container deposit scheme.

A 36-year-old man from Broken Hill has been fined $4,800 — ordered to pay $960 in court costs and to the victims of crime levy — after pleading guilty to the scam.

He was also ordered to forfeit 45,000 of his drink containers to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

For Seinfeld's Kramer and Newman, it seemed like the perfect plan — collect tens of thousands of drink containers and drive from New York to Michigan to reap the financial rewards of their paid container deposit scheme.

But in the 1996 episode, the cans never make it to the depot, leaving the two men stranded deep in midwestern America dodging bullets from an angry farmer.

Carefully laid plan included newspaper ads

On June 4, 2016, the man arrived at AAA Recycling in Burton with 37 bales, four clear plastic bags, one garbage bag and two chaff bags filled with cans for recycling.

When he returned the next day for the refund to be assessed, he admitted he had bought some of the cans on a per kilogram basis from the Wilcannia Pub in New South Wales, but said that he was entitled to $7,000 for the cans from the recycling depot.

The cans were confiscated by the EPA, who initiated court action.

Part of the man's collection of drink cans that was confiscated. ( Supplied: Environmental Protection Authority )

Court documents state that the man, who had no prior convictions, was very embarrassed by locals in Broken Hill becoming aware of the case.

The conviction was the first of its type recorded in South Australia under the Container Deposit Legislation.

In her remarks, Judge Susanne Cole said the man had advertised in the local newspaper to source cans, with the Environment Protection Authority alerted to the scheme when the man approached a collection depot in South Australia.

"It was a dishonest, planned, course of conduct involving the placement of a newspaper advertisement and the sourcing of cans from numerous sources in a deliberate attempt to obtain a financial advantage in South Australia to which the defendant knew he was not entitled," she said.

EPA manager Steve Barry said the conviction served as a warning to people who may try to get refunds for ineligible drink containers.

"Attempting to obtain a refund for non-funded containers is not only illegal and dishonest but also threatens the viability of South Australia's CDL system," he said.

The conviction is the second breach of the law in just over 12 months, with a number of suburban retailers within the Adelaide metropolitan area convicted for illegally selling more than 10,000 drinks in non-compliant containers.

What is a container deposit scheme?

South Australia's container deposit scheme was introduced in 1977, and provides a 10 cent return for all labelled containers at recycling depots that are located across the state.

These items can also be recycled with no payment provided to households through council-run kerbside garbage collection.

The EPA is responsible for managing container deposit legislation under the Environment Protection Act 1993,

Drink suppliers add an extra cost to their products to cover the refund.

New South Wales introduced the Return and Earn container deposit scheme in December last year, with the ACT piggy backing off the state's scheme to introduce one too.

The Northern Territory introduced its scheme in 2012, while Queensland and Western Australia are considering whether to introduce a container deposit scheme this year or in 2019.