“Low-hanging fruit”: Beverage DRS and refill systems are easy-wins in circularity mission, says German NGO

18 May 2020 --- European environmental NGOs are amplifying their concerns regarding the consequences of failing to implement the separate collection of single-use plastic bottles via deposit return systems (DRS) as recommended by the EU Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD). Certain EU Member State are trying to keep single-use PET bottles in the curbside collection system, through “green dot” systems, so as not to lose a portion of their revenue, according to Henriette Schneider, Circular Economy Expert at Deutsche Umwelthilfe (Environmental Action Germany). She also states that in doing so, they aim to influence legislators to alternatively interpret the SUPD so that it includes the post-sorting of residual waste. PackagingInsights investigates concerns that maintaining curbside collection systems for PET bottles may hinder plastic packaging circularity targets.

“Stakeholders know that they will not reach the very ambitious separate-collection targets laid down in the SUPD by keeping PET bottles in their collection infrastructure. This is because a significant portion of bottles would still be littered or disposed of via the mixed waste system if there is no incentive involved for consumers to bring them back. They hope that adding bottles from commingled packaging and post-sorted residual waste together will enable them to reach the separate-collection targets,” says Schneider.

Not implementing a separate collection of single-use plastic bottles would have dire consequences, environmental NGOs warn.According to the SUPD, PET bottles need to contain at least 25 percent recycled content and by 2025, and all plastic bottles at least 30 percent by 2030. Schneider warns that without DRS, it will be almost impossible for Member States to reach this target.

The consequences of inaction
Not implementing a separate collection of single-use plastic bottles could have dire consequences, according to Schneider. “Plastic bottle littering would not stop, although this is the main objective of the SUPD. There will be no effect on littering if there is no financial incentive for consumers to return beverage containers. Single-use plastic bottles are among the most littered items in countries without DRS since beverages are often consumed on-the-go.”

Not implementing DRS would undermine the goal of more high-quality recycling in the EU, she continues. “The only way to make new PET bottles out of old PET bottles is to collect the bottles as a separate waste stream – via a DRS. Only if bottles are collected as a clean, separate waste stream can the material be used to make new bottles out of them.” 

Furthermore, the SUPD is clear on its terminology regarding “separate collection,” Schneider affirms, which states that beverage bottles are to be collected separately. Regardless of certain stakeholders’ motives, post-sorting of residual waste, where bottles would be mixed with all kinds of other non-packaging waste, is “not an option envisioned by this EU legislation.”

Germany boasts a 98.5 percent collection rate of single-use containers. (Source: Eggert/DUH)Germany’s DRS system diffuses green dot concerns
Schneider points to the success of DRS systems in her own country, which boasts a 98.5 percent collection rate for single-use containers. “Before 2003 [when DRS was introduced in Germany], an annual three billion of single-use bottles and cans were polluting the environment. With the DRS, both littered PET bottles and cans practically disappeared from parks, squares and streets, practically overnight. If single-use bottles and cans were still collected via green dot systems, the collection rate would be significantly lower,” she explains.

Green dot systems collect mixed packaging waste together via curbside collection. Green dot operators are notably concerned that introducing the DRS would cost them a portion of their revenue given PET bottles would be collected via a different infrastructure and managed by the DRS system operator. In 2003, German green dot operators voiced concerns that the new legislation could harm green dot operators as well, but Schneider indicates that these concerns were unfounded and did not turn out to be true for several reasons.

“Firstly, green dot systems have never targeted out-of-home consumption, which makes up a significant part of beverage containers. This means that these containers cannot get lost from the curbside collection. The same applies to littered containers and those that end up in public waste bins. Secondly, the two systems are not competing, but can coexist perfectly – they simply target different waste streams. There is plenty of valuable plastic and metal packaging collected via the green dot system that consequently allows businesses in the sector to thrive.”

Notably, before 2003, there was only one system operator on the German green dot market, but today, there are eight. Furthermore, license fees have decreased since 2003, which Schneider attributes to a successful business model within the sector.

DRS could faciliate waste management for both single-use and refillable beverage containers. The future of packaging: Refillable containers
The next step on DRS’ path toward pollution reduction and meeting the SUPD targets is what many have hailed as a solid solution toward environmental protection: refillable packaging. Since DRS for single-use and refillable beverage containers primarily rely on the same infrastructure, consumers are more likely to choose refillables over single-use beverage containers if they have to return both types of packaging to the same return points.

“From an environmental perspective, the goal must be to shift away entirely from single-use beverage containers – be it plastic, glass, metal, or carton – to regionally distributed refillable beverage packaging,” Schneider affirms. This should come hand in hand with primary waste reduction targets, binding quantitative reuse targets, financial incentives and binding measures for green public procurement. “Functioning reuse systems can quickly establish themselves on the market if the necessary conditions are present,” she highlights.

For beverage packaging, setting European reuse targets of at least 70 percent by 2030 offers great potential for waste prevention, Schneider maintains, since it accounts for 10 percent of overall packaging waste (estimations based on German statistics). “Many countries already have a small percentage of refillable beverage packaging on the market, with the necessary infrastructure in place. The mere need to expand these existing systems makes beverage packaging a truly low-hanging fruit,” she concludes.

By Anni Schleicher