A community group is running a mock container recycling scheme across Victoria.

The Boomerang Alliance – which brings together 47 community groups and local governments – is towing a 3-metre long soft drink bottle around the state and handing out money for bottles and cans.

The group says its ‘mock refund container’ is designed to simulate a real deposit scheme, and hopes to prompt political action by dropping off the containers it collects to the office of Premier Daniel Andrews.

“[It's] a message from regional Victoria that they should get on with it and implement the scheme,” said Boomerang Alliance member Annett Finger.

Ms Finger is also a researcher in marine ecology, and says the effect of growing plastic waste runs well beyond political borders.

“I'm dealing with the nasty end of what happens when we don't recycle properly,” she said.

“These schemes are the most effective thing any government can do to help our oceans.”

After decades of resistance from corporations and lobbies, Victoria and Tasmania are now the only states without a refund scheme or a proposed scheme.

Western Australia and Queensland have programs set to start by next year, while New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory already have container deposit schemes in place.

The Victorian Government says it will consider a scheme, but has not made any formal commitments.

“We continue to look at container deposit schemes in other jurisdictions to understand the benefits and costs of various models, and how they might work in Victoria,” a Government spokesperson said.