TOMRA has outlined the five key factors behind the world’s highest-performing deposit return schemes (DRS) for drinks container recycling and noted increasing public and policy demand to address plastic pollution, slow rising recycling costs and move towards circular economy models.
Deposit return legislation adds a small deposit to the price of each beverage, which is refunded to consumers when they return the empty containers for recycling. DRS are set up by the government in each geography according to local needs, infrastructure and policy objectives. Due to this, TOMRA highlights that different DRS can bring different results, depending on their design.
TOMRA’s recommendations are based on DRS performance evidence, evaluating deposit systems against metrics such as return rate and the number of return locations per capita. The company identified the five principles the most successful schemes had in common: circularity, performance, convenience, producer responsibility and system integrity.
All the schemes have a structure in place to ensure material is collected and recycled or reused as many times as possible into the same product, or one of similar quality. The systems are focused on ‘meaningfully increasing’ recycling and/or reuse rates, and the return systems are easy, accessible and fair for everyone.
TOMRA points out that producers manage their packaging’s end of life within a framework set by the government and re-invest the system’s revenue to continuously improve the system’s performance. The systems also work reliably through fraud protections, transparency and oversight.
TOMRA’s new whitepaper, titled ‘Unlocking Circularity: Insights from high-performing deposit return systems’, analyzes what makes some DRS succeed, while others fall short. The company adds that the European Union’s Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation requires member states to separately collect 90% of all single-use plastic beverage bottles and drink cans by 2029, and that member states set up a deposit return system by 2029 to achieve those targets.
In related news, Sweden’s deposit return system (DRS) operator Returpack/Pantamera has reported that over 3 billion PET bottles and aluminium cans were returned through the country’s DRS in 2025, 130 million more than the previous year. Returpack/Pantamera states that when PET bottles and aluminium cans are returned through the deposit system instead of general packaging recycling, it reduces the carbon footprint by half.
Portugal recently launched its national Deposit Return System (DRS) for ready-to-drink beverage packaging, introducing over 3,000 collection points including baling capabilities at remote kiosk locations. Consumers pay a set deposit value of €0.10 per container, which is refunded when they return their empty packaging to a reverse vending machine or manual take-back point across the collection network.
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy:
The ultimate guide to packaging innovation in 2026
Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation: what to know in 2026
Everything you need to know about global packaging sustainability regulation
No comments yet