TOMRA concludes 4 success factors for deposit return systems

There are increasing calls from the public to address plastic pollution and recycling costs, and from experts to move away from traditional linear take-make-dispose models in favor of a circular economy. Policymakers are turning to DRS as a successful approach for tackling these challenges.

Also known as container deposit schemes or bottle bills, this legislation adds a small deposit to the price of a beverage, which is repaid to consumers when they return the empty bottles and cans for recycling.

In the past three years alone at least 22 states or countries have committed to update or develop deposit return systems, soon bringing the global total to more than 60. This includes England, Portugal and all of Australia.

The white paper draws on TOMRA’s over 45 years of experience in providing a range of services and reverse vending technology to deposit systems in 40 deposit markets.

Reverse vending machines provide an easy way for the public to return containers for recycling and regain their deposit money. The machines collect, sort, compact and initiate accounting for each container accepted.

TOMRA has over 84,000 reverse vending machines capturing over 40 billion used beverage containers worldwide each year.

The company thus evaluated deposit models against key metrics and found that the most effective deposit systems share four principles in common:

● Performance: A collection target for all beverage containers plus a meaningful deposit delivers strong results.
● Convenience: The redemption system is easy, accessible and fair for all users.
● Producer Responsibility: Producers finance and invest in the system using the unredeemed deposits, commodity revenues, and an eco-modulated EPR fee.
● System Integrity: Trust is built into the system's processes through transparent management, a data-driven clearinghouse, and reliable redemption technology.

The white paper also examines the 12 key policy elements that put these principles into practice, and shares case studies of regions that are best at delivering on those elements in their deposit return systems.

It follows on from the launch of TOMRA’s “Resource Recovery Playbook” in November, the beginning of a series of white papers and reports on the circular economy and a sustainable future for resources.