Deposit-refund systems for one-way beverage packaging in Europe

Deposit-refund systems for one-way beverage packaging in Europe: exchange of experiences and points of view

In recent years, the interest and controversy over deposit-refund systems for one-way beverage packaging has been mounting. Acclaimed as an effective way to increase collection and recycling rates and reduce littering by some, it is criticised for being too costly and complex by others. With the recently adopted EU waste package containing ambitious new targets for packaging and the Proposal for a single-use plastics directive put forward by the Commission in May 2018, deposit-refund systems are a highly topical issue.

The lunch debate hosted on 17 January 2018 by ACR+ wished to discuss the current situation and to explore the arguments put forward by proponents and opponents of such a system, and the different perspectives on the role of deposits within the mix of instruments put in place to help drive the circularity of packaging.

On the occasion of this Lunch debate, ACR+ first released its study report entitled “Deposit-refund systems for one-way beverage packaging in Europe”, which explores existing experiences of Deposit-refund systems across ten European countries: Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Event Overview

Agenda
Participant List

Documents

Deposit-refund systems for one-way beverage packaging in Europe: full report and 10 country case studies, ACR+
Study on the Application of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Deposit System in Portugal, Executive summary, SPV - SOCIEDADE PONTO VERDE

Presentations

Bilyana Spasova, ACR+
Joachim Quoden, EXPRA
Manuel Pássaro, Sociedade Ponto Verde
Rauno Raal, Earth Care Consulting
Pilar Chiva, Catalan Waste Agency