The mandatory deposit system will bring such changes from January

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 12. 28. 12:22

From January 1, 2024, the legal provisions will come into force, which from then on will regulate the mandatory return of the packaging of various types of soft drinks and spirits – plastic, metal, glass bottles – in stores. The new regulations, however, only apply to those types of drinks for which the manufacturer also indicates this on the packaging and bottles. These redeemable drinks will gradually appear on store shelves during the first half of 2024. The goal is for customers to return as many bottles as possible to the stores, for efficient waste management.

The essence of the system is that it cannot otherwise be refilled at the manufacturing plants, therefore when selling single-use – so-called single-use – beverage bottles, if the manufacturer has already indicated this on the packaging, the merchants will be obliged to charge the customers a HUF 50 redemption fee for the at the time of sale.

The customer can get this redemption fee back in the form of a redeemable voucher when they return the beverage bottle to the store. However, the customer can also decide to exchange the voucher for cash at the cash registers.

Redemption will be mandatory in food stores larger than 400 square meters, not in all other places selling drinks, but any store can join the system voluntarily. In these stores, the exchange is carried out by an automatic device, which properly checks whether the discarded bottle can be returned, whether it is labeled correctly, and whether the bottle is not damaged.