More than 333 million bottles have been returned at ALDI

Since the introduction of the new return system, bottle return vending machines have been operating in all ALDI stores in Hungary, and the number of returned beverage packaging has been continuously increasing since the introduction. The store chain currently operates more than 300 vending machines in its 187 stores nationwide, of which 86 locations have high-capacity, built-in devices that facilitate convenient and fast returns.

During 2025, nearly a quarter of a billion beverage packaging were returned in the store chain’s stores, and since the launch of the return system, customers have returned 333 million single-use packaging. On average, around 3,500 bottles are put into the vending machines in an ALDI store every day, but in the busiest stores up to 11,000 packages are returned in a single day.

Of the beverage packaging returned in ALDI stores, plastic and aluminum bottles account for more than 90% of all returns, with the rest being glass bottles. Customers still most often choose to use the redeemable store voucher to use the value of the returned bottles – around 80% of the amounts dispensed from the vending machines are used this way, and almost 20% are requested in the form of a transfer, while the proportion of charitable donations has not changed.

ALDI aims to provide customers with a simple and quick return option, and thus contribute to returning beverage packaging to a circular economy and reducing the environmental impact.