Deposit Return Systems Accelerate Reuse
You can download a PDF of this fact sheet here.
Fifty years of data on deposit return system (DRS) laws in the U.S. demonstrate that these systems are effective at boosting collection and recycling rates, creating local economic development opportunities and jobs, generating clean streams of recyclable materials through source-separation, preventing roadside litter and plastic pollution, and catalyzing reuse. It’s time for a national DRS.
The beverage sector is ready for reuse: Today, more beverage reuse/refill systems operate at scale than all other open reuse systems (such as reuse for take-out/delivery or bulk sales of dry goods), and virtually all of them use DRSs to get their con- tainers back. In every successful refillable beverage initiative around the world, DRS are either mandated by law or estab- lished voluntarily by the beverage industry.
DRS started as a reuse/refill solution: The original DRS systems for beverages were created by beer, soda and dairy com- panies to get their bottles back for washing and refilling. The distribution and wash hubs they built allowed virtually all com- mercial beverages in the U.S. to be sold in refillable bottles.
Around the world, beverage companies have continued to operate and expand their refillables lines:
In Germany, 82% of beer is sold in refillable bottles, and 99% are returned for refilling. Overall, 54% of beverages sold in Germany are in refilla- bles.
In Ontario, Canada, 85% of beer is sold in refill- able bottles, with 97% returned and an average reuse rate of 15 cycles.
Refillables account for significant portions of beverage sales in Mexico (27%), Columbia (54%), Brazil (24%), China (22%), Vietnam (31%), Thailand (20%), India (34%), Nigeria (43%), and the Philippines (59%).
Refillable bottles are typically either made from glass or PET plastic (#1). Aluminum packaging manufacturers are also beginning to make refill-able bottles, although this is currently a very small share of the market. Glass bottles can be reused up to 50 times and PET bottles can be reused up to 20 times before they are retired and recycled.
Reusable beverage containers are better for the environment: After a third use, reusable glass bottles are already less impactful than single-use glass, PET or aluminum cans. Used 25 times and then recycled, reusable glass bottles create 85% fewer climate emissions than single-use glass; 57% fewer than aluminum cans; and 70% fewer than single-use PET. Refillable PET bottles can save up to 40% of the raw materials and 50% of the green- house gas emissions compared to the production of single-use PET bottles.
Refillables also benefit the ocean: Oceana estimates that a 10% increase in the share of beverages sold in refillables could result in a 22% decrease in marine plastic pollu- tion. This would keep 4.5 to 7.6 billion plastic bottles out of the ocean each year.
For reuse and refill to work at scale, we’ll need financial incentives to ensure that consumers return reusable packaging. DRS establishes the necessary incentives through refundable deposits that help signal to consumers to bring their bottles back. By assigning economic value to containers, DRS is also proven to prevent litter.