Turning cans into $10,000… again?

One South Dudley resident walked away $10,000 richer in last year’s Win a Million Cents competition, and she’ll be giving it another go this year.

Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme has brought back the competition for 2026, and local Kim will be entering again, despite the low odds of winning back-to-back.

“Yeah, I’ll be entering again, why not?” she said.

“I doubt very much that I’ll win again, but you never know.”

Kim was one of just five Victorians to win $10,000 during the competition in 2025, after entering through Wonthaggi’s Can Collect depot.

Her winning 2025 entry came from something she almost didn’t bother doing, as Kim previously stated she was sceptical when she first received the phone call.

At the time, she thought she was being pranked and only believed the news after receiving an email confirming it was legitimate.

But one year on, the prize money is still waiting to be used.

“I haven’t had the holiday, I’ve been sitting on it,” she said.

“I’m still thinking about things.”

Kim originally hoped to put the money towards a holiday, potentially somewhere tropical and warm, but simply said the timing wasn’t great.

“I’ll definitely still use it to go somewhere, but it just turned out not to be the best time to go on holidays, really,” she said.

Her container-collecting habit originally began last year while she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

During a three-month break from work, Kim was encouraged to keep active and started walking for an hour or two every day, and along the way, she began picking up cans and bottles.

Kim said she still picks up cans while walking, although not as intensely as she did in the past.

“When I started doing this last year, I was having treatment and could devote my days to walking and collecting cans, that was part of my exercise and my motivation to get as many cans as I could.

“I’m still doing it, but not as full on as I was.”

Kim stores the cans in large green garden bags from Bunnings.

“If I get four full bags, I can get close to $50 every time I go in, which would be only about once a month at this point,” she said.

The Win a Million Cents competition opened at 10am on Monday, May 4 and closes at 11.59pm on Sunday, June 14.

Victorian residents automatically receive one entry for every 50 eligible containers returned in a single transaction.

Similar to last year, five $10,000 cash prizes are up for grabs, with one of the winners also receiving an extra $10,000 to donate to a registered CDS Vic donation partner of their choice.