The tally puts it in the top three inland regional councils for embrace of the Return and Earn scheme, after Broken Hill and Albury.

At its third anniversary coordinators of the scheme have highlighted the 314,284 tonnes deposited in NSW and a "community-wide shift in attitudes to waste".

Three-quarters of NSW residents have participated and two out of every three drink containers supplied into the state in the past 12 months have been recycled through the initiative, scheme coordinator Exchange for Change CEO Danielle Smalley reports.

Dubbo Region's Return and Earn sites, installed progressively from December 2017, and its automated depot, have together collected more than 4089 tonnes to November 30, the new Local Government Network Collection Volumes Report published on the Exchange for Change website shows.

Aluminium containers totalled 31.26 million, almost half of the 66.08 million containers returned at Dubbo, the report shows.

Broken Hill came in first among inland regional councils with more than 77.68 million bottles and cans returned, and then Albury with 74.66 million.

But Dubbo was ahead of inland counterparts Tamworth Region and Wagga Wagga, where 59.96 million and 59.92 million items were returned respectively.

At Bathurst there were 51.37 million, while Orange lags behind with 31.58 million containers returned.

Ms Smalley praised the contribution of local councils to the success of the scheme.

"NSW councils have been crucial to engaging local residents in container recycling at a community level," she said.

James Dorney, CEO of NSW network operator TOMRA Cleanaway congratulated all NSW councils for their enthusiastic support of the scheme.

"The benefits of the scheme to our community are clear - 4.6 billion containers that now have a new life as a valuable resource, less litter in our parks and waterways, and $460 million in refunds back into the hands of the community helping bolster local business and charities," Mr Dorney said.

"The strength of partnerships with local governments and the Return and Earn scheme is evidenced through the number of return points hosted across the state by councils which is increasing each year.

"This change in attitude to litter and recycling can be seen across NSW with 64 per cent of NSW residents stating the scheme will increase the amount of recycling they do."