Under European regulations, a deposit system is to be introduced to improve selective waste collection. The targets have been set for all countries, not just for Poland. From 2025, Poland must collect as much as 77% of waste in the form of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and cans. By 2029, this percentage is to rise to 90%. The obligations are on the side of those introducing products in packaging, just like the system’s costs.
“Of course, the deposit is intended to oblige us, the consumers, to return the packaging,” said Piotr Mazurek, an expert in the circular economy at the Confederation of Leviathan, to eNewsroom.pl. “This means that we pay a deposit when buying, for example, a drink, then we return the packaging and receive a refund of the deposit. The system also assumes that it will be financed from the non-refunded deposit – that is, from all the fees that remain in the system after the non-collection of the deposit by the buyers. However, the main financing lies on the side of those introducing products – that is, all those entities that introduce drinks in packaging covered by the system to the Polish market – single-use plastic bottles for drinks up to 3 litres, bottles for water, juices, but also for milk. The system also covers glass packaging for multiple-use beverages up to 1.5 litres in capacity, and metal cans for beverages up to a litre,” explains Mazurek.
