Wollongong councillor Jill Merrin and long-time Scout leader Ron Critcher have joined the chorus of support for NSW government moves to introduce cash for containers recycling.

It comes hot on the heels of Local Government NSW praising government plans to introduce a container deposit scheme (CDS) that will help reduce litter and save councils, and the communities they serve, millions of dollars in recycling costs.

Cr Merrin was at the forefront in 2012 when Wollongong City Council called on the state and federal governments to introduce container deposit legislation (CDL).

"Councils bear the responsibility for cleaning up all the litter, and many hundreds of volunteers also spend their free time picking up other people's litter," the Ward 1 Greens councillor said.

"NSW recycles about 40 per cent of its drink containers, whereas in South Australia the rate is about 75 per cent, because SA has had container deposits for the last 39 years.

"The argument for CDL is clear, and a majority of the public support it. Through CDL, we may be able to reduce litter, reduce landfill volumes, reduce the numbers of turtles, lizards, seals and birds killed by litter, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our water use."

Mr Critcher said there had been a lot of discussion within Scouts about CDL over the past five years.

"We will be most interested to see what happens. Certainly it is a great way for community groups to raise money and in the process help the environment," he said.

Fairfax Media reported earlier this month that Premier Mike Baird had written to the beverages industry inviting companies to get on board and help clean up the state's beaches, parks and rivers.

One in three pieces of litter in Australia is a drinks container, but industry has until now fiercely opposed the introduction of container deposits, claiming it would cost jobs.

Cr Merrin congratulated the Boomerang Alliance and other community groups for their "tenacious lobbying efforts, against the might of the big beverage industries and their unceasing opposition to CDL".

Under the NSW scheme, schools and charities will be encouraged to raise funds by collecting containers for cash, likely to be set at a 10¢ rebate. Beverage companies will be allowed to increase drink prices by the amount of the deposit, and only need to pay the deposit on redeemed containers.

Reverse vending machines will be located in public places and community recycling centres set up, to target glass, plastic and cans of the size that are predominantly consumed away from home. The machines can hold 3000 bottles or cans, crush the containers, and don't allow non-recyclable rubbish to be deposited. Cr Merrin said this reverse vending machine was already operating successfully in the centre of Sydney and could be a good option for Wollongong.

"Our environmentally sustainable reference group has a waste working group which have been discussing introducing one of these in our city. I think it would be a great initiative."