A brief global history of DRS

TOMRA OFFERS A RAPID-FIRE HISTORY OF DEPOSIT RETURN SCHEMES AROUND THE WORLD AND EXAMINES HOW EFFECTIVE THEY CAN BE IN TRANSFORMING RECYCLING RATES.

Plastic has been creating environmental challenges ever since its conception and countries around the world have been implementing Deposit Return Schemes as a means of finding a solution.

Though not at first as sophisticated as in modern days, the first systems were introduced on the back of challenges presented by the amount of waste single-use PET bottles created and the appetite to capture back the value of plastic by re-using it.

First Solutions

Kerbside collection was the first step towards the recycling revolution. Ontario was the first place in the world to implement it, in a deal which saw the soft drink industry provide seed financing for the programme.

That created a chain reaction across the world, eventually becoming a legal requirement for municipalities; however, many authorities felt kerbside collection wasn’t always proving cheaper than disposal, and so had to come up with a different solution.

Meanwhile, another part of Canada was introducing the Litter Act in 1970, designed to reduce the burden of litter control. This saw British Colombia become the first place in the world to roll out a mandatory refund system for beer, soft drink cans and bottles. The trailblazing system required customers to pay a deposit at the point of sale when buying a bottle or can, and the money was returned to them in full when they brought the empty container back to a collection point.

This was the world’s first government-legislated deposit return system, according to Tomra.

Wolfgang Ringel, Senior Vice-President of Group Public Affairs at Tomra, says: “The first bottle deposits were introduced for obvious economic reasons. When they later became legislated, this was also in response to the plastic waste problem and the burden on municipalities.

“As the litter problem grew, it also meant there was a reputational issue for producers to consider. For example, the Ocean Conservancy produces an annual report on litter statistics that includes a breakdown of litter by beverage brand, and that sort of reporting is a powerful tool in accountability and driving change.”

Rapid Growth

Throughout the 1970s, similar schemes were adopted in other parts of Canada, Australia and the US.

In Europe, Sweden became the first country to introduce deposits in 1984, starting with cans. In fact, Scandinavia was a region that embraced DRS early on, with both Denmark and Norway adopting schemes.

Elsewhere, South Australia rolled out a deposit return system in 1977, while in the US 10 states implemented bottle bills; Oregon was first in 1972. Barbados was the first across Oceania and the Caribbean in 1986.

Since them, more jurisdictions and countries came on board, with the last 10 years having seen particularly rapid growth in an effort to address the crisis of waste and pollution.

Meanwhile, in May 2020, South Korea introduced a deposit system to deal with the challenge posed by coffee cups and takeaway food containers.

European Trailblazers

On the continent, almost all collection systems are based around a return-to-retail model. This means that drinks retailers are legally responsible for the recovery of empty containers, which are then either reused or recycled.

Alternatively, a return-to-depot system is more popular in the US and Canada, with Iceland being the only European country to use this model, which involves consumers returning empty containers to a collection centre. Slovakia and Malta were some of the latest countries to implement deposit return schemes.

Launched in late 2022, Malta introduced the initiative with the aim of increasing recycling rates from 20% to 90%. The DRS is operated by BCRMS Malta, a licensed not-for-profit private operator of the country’s Beverage Container Refund Scheme and Sensoneo, a waste management solutions firm, providing a DRS IT service for the scheme.

The company had previously run the same IT system in Slovakia, which became the 11th European country to launch a DRS on 1 January 2022. According to the company, since it came online, the scheme has facilitated the return of 100 million plastic bottles and metal cans by Slovakia’s population of more than five million people in its first five months of operation.

Meanwhile, in the Baltics, Latvia also launched a DRS scheme this year in partnership with Tomra. Estonia has the longest-running DRS in the region, with the system also being a model for Scotland. In 2018, Scotland’s Have You Got the Bottle campaign organised a trip to Estonia to see its DRS in action and support the campaign for the introduction of a Scottish DRS.

Comparing Outcomes

According to the Global Deposit Book, a report that provides an overview of deposit return systems for single-use beverage containers, a more expensive deposit equates to higher rates of return. With deposits worth less than 7 US cents per container, the average return rate is 68%, rising to 81% with deposits between 7 and 9.9 US cents, and to 88% with deposits between 10 and 15 US Cents.

Europe boasts some of the world’s most successful programmes, with return rates as high as 94% and deposits equalling 15 US cents or higher.