Is Poland ready for this change? Who is going to bear the costs and what are the real benefits for the environment? These and other questions were addressed by participants in the debate ‘The deposit system in Poland: a step towards the future?’, which took place during the Economic Forum in Karpacz.

‘The deposit system is designed to actually recover valuable raw materials. And, of course, to make it convenient for the customer, they should be able to return the packaging quickly, without having to wait in a queue, and settle as they wish: either by allocating the funds to further purchases or by receiving a cash refund. As an operator, we are fully prepared to launch the system on 1 October, although it will start very slowly’, said Tomasz Suligowski, president of the board of OK Operator Kaucyjny.

The system, which will be launched on 1 October, will apply to shops with an area exceeding 200 square metres. Then, PET containers up to 3 litres, as well as cans up to 1 litre and reusable glass bottles up to 1.5 litres, will be marked with the deposit system logo along with the deposit amount, which is to be PLN 0.5 for PET and cans, and PLN 1 for reusable glass containers.

‘The success of the deposit system depends on many factors, the most decisive of which is the partnership between operators and between all stakeholders,’ added Suligowski.

The main purpose of introducing the system is to achieve EU recycling levels, which are 90% for 2029.

Experts agreed that the current municipal collection system is inefficient. Anna Sapota, Vice-President of Tomra Systems, emphasised that today only four to five out of ten plastic bottles are recycled. In her opinion, the deposit system, thanks to financial incentives, is expected to increase this rate to at least nine. ‘In Poland, with more or less 13 billion containers, this will amount to approximately PLN 6.5 billion per year circulating within the deposit system', she added.

The key advantage of the new solution is the quality of the raw material obtained. Packaging returned to shops must be clean and sorted, which allows it to be reused for the production of food packaging (known as bottle-to-bottle recycling).

Currently, the raw material is often contaminated and is suitable only for down-cycling, i.e. processing into lower quality products such as fleece sweatshirts or flower pots.

The most controversial aspect is the impact of the system on the daily lives and wallets of Poles. Experts have firmly debunked the myth that product prices will rise. ‘The deposit, added to the price of the beverage, is a refundable deposit, as has been the case for years with returnable glass bottles', emphasised Dariusz Dworzecki, director of development and collection network at Kaucja.pl – National Deposit System.

However, concerns arose about inconveniences such as the need to store uncrushed bottles and deliver them to shops. Finally, what about the elderly or people who do not have cars?

Jakub Ogórek, president of the Polish Deposit System, reassured that the deposit system is often operated by children, for whom collecting bottles becomes a source of pocket money. He also pointed to examples from Berlin, where discarded packaging is collected by people in difficult financial situations, which is a form of charity work.

‘This system is to be universal. The law clearly states that collection points are to be organised by the operator in every municipality’, added Dariusz Dworzecki.

According to the participants in the debate, social pressure may cause even small, local shops to voluntarily join the system in order to meet the expectations of their neighbours.

Przemysław Witkowski, a member of the management board of Kaufland Polska, made no secret of the fact that it is the retail sector that will become the ‘face’ of the entire system and will bear the enormous costs. Over two years, the chain has invested approximately PLN 250-300 million in modernising its shops and purchasing collection machines (bottle return machines). Without automation, annual labour costs could reach as much as PLN 50-70 million, he noted.

These costs are to be compensated by what is known as a handling fee – remuneration paid to collection points by system operators. The amount of this fee is currently the subject of intense negotiations and will determine whether shops will manage to cover their expenses without passing them on to consumers in another form.

The panellists emphasised that the key challenge is a lack of education. ‘The level of education among today's customers is non-existent', said Witkowski, fearing frustration among customers who will try to return packaging not yet covered by the system on 1 October.

The participants in the debate drew attention to the poorly drafted law, which leaves many questions unanswered, especially in the context of the HoReCa industry and non-food shops. It was also pointed out that Poland is the only country in Europe to implement a deposit system before the extended producer responsibility (EPR) system, which is a reversal of a standard practice.