Thedanish Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is a worldwide excellence in the recovery and recycling of beverage packaging. So efficient that it has enabled extended producer responsibility burdens to be eliminated as of 2023. (EPR,Extended Producers' Responsibility).
Deposit Return Scheme, the Danish model
The management of beverage bottles and cans in Denmark is entrusted exclusively – and strictly – to the deposit system (Deposit Return Scheme), the introduction of which in France is now the subject of lively debate. (1)
According to the classical scheme, the consumer pays a extra amount on drinks, in which case up to 3 Danish kroner (DKK), 40 euro cents. The amount can be recovered by placing the packaging in a special automated collector, which issues a ticketto cash out or credit the amount to an app.
The system is entirely managed by Dansk Retursystem, a company with majority shares held by the giant Carlsberg and two other Danish breweries (Thisted Brewery and Royal Unibrew). The service is run on a non-profit basis for 20 years, on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment, which evaluates every three years whether to renew it.
Rigorous standards
The terms of the service are dictated by an ordinance implementing the Environmental Protection Act. (2) The text clarifies the deposit terms to which all beverage and packaging manufacturers are required, the obligation to accept empty bottles and cans from consumers and the Dansk Returnsystem terms of service, such as the obligation to ensure that 90% of the collected empty single-use packaging is recycled.
All disposable packaging beverages intended for marketing in Denmark are subject to registration with Dansk Returnsystem. The procedure is completed with the supply of the labels to be affixed onthe packaging to indicate the type of deposit, which varies according to the material. The rule also applies to importers, who are required to comply at least 4 weeks before importation.
Advance deposit
At the first registration the operator is required to pay a deposit to guarantee the payment of deposits and commissions. The advance is repaid within two years.
The amount of the deposit can reach 500.000 DKK (67 euros), reduced to 100.000 DKK (13.400 euros) for operators who market, exclusively or mainly, drinks in disposable glass packaging.
Collection points
Collection is organized both in public areas and in commercial establishments that decide to offer this service under the following conditions:
- registration with Dansk Retursystem, upon payment of a small annual fee (DKK 500, equal to 67 euros).
- reimbursem*nt of expenses incurred,
- responsibility for any impediments to the collection, (e.g. inadequate packaging of the collected materials, failure to clear the snow, etc.) with heavy penalties. In such cases, Dansk Retursystem charges the retailer with all charges related to non-collection (fuel, personnel, equipment and any other cost items for the empty round trip).
Clean streets
Dansk Retursystem in turn each year pays the Danish Environmental Protection Agency an amount (in 2023 set at 100.000 DKK, equal to 13.423 euros) to cover the costs of collecting, transporting, sorting and treating disposable plastic packaging waste dispersed in the environment or given by citizens to municipal collection points.
The description details of the tasks and charges to be borne by each actor involved in the collection of the packaging to be sent for recycling leaves no room for uncertainty, generating efficiency.
A profitable system
The fluidity of the Deposit Return Scheme Danish – in supermarkets and in dedicated areas, where the new machinery receives up to 120 bottles per minute – has yielded increasing collection percentages, up to the current 93% of the released for consumption. Of 100 bottles or cans sold, 93 are returned and can be recycled.
The quality of the material collected with the deposit system turns into good income, through the sale to recyclers. So good as to have allowed this year to eliminate the burden on producers under the heading of extended producer responsibility (Extended Producers' Responsibility, EPR), as announced by Lars Krejberg Petersen, CEO of Dansk Retursystem. (3)
Containers intended for reuse
Containers intended for reuse glass and plastic are also subject to the deposit system, but are not directly handled by Dansk Returnsystem.
The producers must autonomously guarantee the reimbursem*nt of the deposit to the consumer and return them washed and recharged. Alternatively, they can outsource the task to Dansk Returnsystem, who offer a post-sales service 'turnkey': registration, labelling, storage management, collection and sanitization or disposal of containers intended for reuse.
Golden Share
In 20 years of activity, Dansk Retursystem has developed a business impressive and constantly improving. The company reports the adoption of first two trucks Electric Mercedes-Benz for the transport of materials, the start of recycling treatment as well for green plastic bottles, previously excluded. And it promises to continue on the path it has taken, aiming for the goal of becoming a 100% circular system and zero carbon emissions in 2030.
In order to protect such value, and service which is already crucial for Denmark's circular economy goals, the Ministry of the Environment has reserved for itself the right of first refusal on the shares and material assets of Dansk Retursystem.
Marta Strinati
Footnotes
(1)Marta Singed. Deposit Return Scheme on plastic bottles. The debate in France. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.2.23
(2) BEK nr 1568 af 19/12/2022 in force since 5.1.23 https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2022/1568
(3)It's not free at all. Dansk Retursystem press release. 24.1.23https://danskretursystem.dk/presse/nul-gebyr/
Marta Strinati
A professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic studies on food and has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
