Deposit Return Systems (DRS) are not new in Europe. In many Member States consumers are used to paying a deposit when they buy a beverage or a gas cannister for example and redeem this amount when they return the empty packaging. What is new, is that the proposed EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive introduces a mandatory DRS for plastic and metal beverage containers by January 1, 2029, for Member States that are unable to demonstrate that they can reach at least 90% in another way in the two years prior to this date.

Conceptually, this sounds like a simple plan, but the impact on producers, retailers and consumers is significant. And while the introduction of DRS will deliver large amounts of homogenous, high quality feedstock for food grade recycling, this separate collection will also divert valuable PET and aluminum material from the fraction that existing packaging recovery organizations are now managing. What the feedstock from DRS should be used for is already contentious. Where the beverage industry claims priority access to this material given the relatively high recycled content obligations for their PET bottles, others claim that it should be more widely available. 

In this panel you'll hear from directly involved experts where they stand and what solutions they propose.