According to the plan, from January 2025, a deposit system will be in force in Poland. Assumptions?
- The system will include single-use plastic bottles up to 3 liters, reusable glass bottles up to 1.5 liters and metal cans up to 1 liter. For sanitary reasons, milk packaging is excluded from the system.
- Under the deposit system, entrepreneurs introducing drinks in packages covered by the system will be obliged to place markings on these packages specifying the amount of the deposit.
- When selling drinks in single-use or reusable packaging covered by the deposit system, a deposit will be added to the price of the drinks.
- When returning the packaging, you will not be required to present a receipt to recover the deposit, as the packaging covered by the system will be appropriately marked.
- All retail units, regardless of their size, will collect a deposit if they offer drinks in packages covered by the scheme.
- Empty packaging covered by the deposit system can be returned in stores.
To what extent is the Kaufland chain ready for these regulations?
Kaufland has glass bottle machines in over 100 stores
For many years now, Kaufland customers have been able to return reusable glass bottles and boxes for which a deposit has been collected – by going to the customer information point in the store or unattended using special machines that are successively installed in new and modernized facilities. Currently, they are available in over a hundred chain stores throughout Poland.
5 Kaufland stores with PET vending machines
– When it comes to PET packaging, from September 2022, we will enable our customers to donate plastic packaging in selected supermarkets as part of tests. Today, this type of raw material can be disposed of in five locations in Poland – in Lublin, Ostrołęka, Kielce, Turek and Sandomierz. Customers can return the packaging using a vending machine and receive PLN 0.5 for each returned bottle in the form of a voucher to be used for purchases in Kaufland stores – explains the chain's press office.
Due to intensive work on the upcoming introduction of the deposit system, Kaufland will gradually install machines in subsequent branches.
What does it look like on other networks? Biedronka currently has 14 vending machines (11 are located in Warsaw), Lidl has 53. Carrefour stores also have machines.
Challenges of the deposit system. These will be huge costs
– The challenges related to the introduction of the deposit system certainly include the need to reorganize stores within, which involves significant time and financial expenditure, taking into account the preparation of all 246 Kaufland outlets in Poland in such a short time required by the law. Moreover, we must approach each store individually – add the network's representatives.
– It is difficult today to clearly state to what extent we will succeed, but we are planning activities to be ready for any eventuality. We are aware that customers are also waiting for the launch of the deposit system and that at the beginning of next year they will expect efficient, proven solutions – they sum up.
There will be at least several bail bond operators in Poland. Their task is to include, among others: selective collection of packaging and waste, collection and transport from stores. We already have two such operators confirmed by the Ministry of Climate: PolKa and Zwrotka.
The application of OK Operator Kauczny SA – a joint initiative of the Kaufland chain and Lidl Polska (Schwarz Group) – is at the analysis stage.
The application for operator status was recently submitted. The company's management board includes representatives of the Schwarz Group (Edyta Urbaniak – PreZero, Mateusz Staniszewski – Kaufland, Tomasz Suligowski – Lidl).
Operators will have their hands full. As imposed by the legislator, in the first year of operation of the deposit system it will be necessary to collect 77% of approximately PLN 13 billion of packaging and packaging waste introduced to the market.
