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Small stores with a deposit system. They must fulfill this obligation
August 8 this year In the Carrefour hypermarket located in the Atrium Reduta shopping center in Warsaw, a pilot deposit system was launched, organized by: one of the first operators of the PolKa deposit system registered on the Polish market – Polska Kaucja, the Carrefour Polska chain of stores, the logistics operator InPost and the Muszynianka water producer. The system, which started operating in the capital, will be implemented in the scale in which it will come into force in Poland from January 1, 2025.
Testing automatic collection systems, logistics and organizational processes
As part of the pilot project, three fractions of packaging will be collected from customers for a fee: returnable glass bottles, PET bottles up to 3 liters and aluminum cans up to 1 liter. Collection in Carrefour stores will take place automatically, i.e. to specialized sorting machines, the so-called bottle dispensers and will initially be implemented in 4 Warsaw hypermarkets (Carrefour Atrium Reduta, Carrefour Westfield Arkadia, Carrefour Galeria Wileńska, Carrefour Plac Unii) and 2 supermarkets near Warsaw (Carrefour Otwock, ul. Matejki and Carrefour Żyrardów, ul. 1 Maja). Then, in the following weeks, it will cover other Carrefour own stores in Warsaw and the surrounding area. A total of 36 stores of various formats belonging to this chain will take part in the pilot.
According to the assumptions of the Deposit Act, from January 1, 2025, customers who return bottles and cans at places where drinks are purchased will receive a refund of the deposit paid in cash. In the pilot project carried out in Carrefour stores in Warsaw, customers, in exchange for returned packaging, will receive payment in the form of e-vouchers printed directly by bottle machines, with which they will be able to immediately pay for purchases in the chain's stores. However, e-vouchers must be redeemed on the same day and in the store where the waste was collected. The final amount of the e-voucher will be PLN 50 for each returned returnable glass bottle and PLN 5 for each returned PET bottle (up to 3 liters) and aluminum can (up to 1 liter). Initially, the pilot will include only bottles and cans from the entire Carrefour chain, and then also others available on the market, including in competitor stores.
The aim of the pilot is to test automatic collection systems, logistics and organizational processes under the upcoming deposit system, as well as to change consumer habits. So far, Poles have been encouraged to segregate waste and reduce its volume as much as possible by crushing bottles and cans so that they take up as little space as possible. With the introduction of the deposit system, i.e. from January 1, 2025, and as part of the pilot program implemented in Carrefour stores, it will be important to change these habits. Customers will receive a refund of the deposit or payment for the returned packaging, but only if the packaging is returned to stores without being crushed and with a readable barcode.
– Launching a pilot deposit system in Carrefour stores in Warsaw will bring many benefits to the city and its residents. Our network, together with our partners, will be the first in Poland to collect three fractions of packaging from customers for a fee – returnable glass bottles, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Paid collection of this waste will make many of our customers return it to stores, and thus the amount of this waste in urban spaces and landfills will significantly reduce – says Justyna Orzeł, Vice-President and Secretary General of Carrefour Polska. Our pilot, however, is not only about encouraging Poles to return waste, but also about education and a complete change in consumer habits. The previously promoted slogan "crush and throw into the appropriate container" will change 180 degrees to the slogan "don't throw away, don't crush, return it to the point of purchase and collect the deposit". I strongly encourage all Warsaw residents to return drink packaging to Carrefour stores. Together, we are able to clean the city of bottles and cans, improving the quality of the environment in our surroundings, and at the same time do our daily shopping cheaper – he adds.
– The beginning of the pilot is not only great news for the inhabitants of the capital, who will gain access to 45 refund machines, but it is also an excellent opportunity to fully test logistic solutions, the IT system, the collection of packaging in retail outlets and their recycling, so that January 1, 2025 will be everyone calmly. It is worth emphasizing that the vast majority of Poles support the introduction of a deposit system, and efforts should be intensified to ensure that the system operates effectively from January 1. It is also worth remembering the applicable collection levels. In 2029, Poland should reach 90 percent. selective collection of beverage packaging. This is not possible without a deposit system – comments Magdalena Markiewicz, president of PolKa – Polska Kaucja.
– We are starting tests with one of the largest retail chains in Poland, and ultimately we want to gain a significant market share through cooperation with many retail chains. Our pilot is aimed at testing RVM machines with various manufacturers, encouraging and educating customers and building habits of not crushing packaging, in connection with the deposit system coming into effect from January 1, 2025. We want to encourage the return of PET bottles and cans and promote pro-ecological activities. The operational process that we want to test with Carrefour and PolKa over the next three months will be analogous to the one that will start in January at every point of sale subject to such an obligation. We cooperate with experienced partners: recycling companies who will manage waste. Thanks to this, we will enter 2025 prepared for the deposit system – notes Waldemar Brzoska, director of the InPost expansion office.
The pilot of the deposit system in Warsaw will last 4 months. It was held under the honorary patronage of: Wody Polskie, State Forests and the Business for Climate organization. The substantive partner of the implementation was the Parents for Climate organization.
Carrefour: 3.5 years of tests, 20 million packages collected and 45 million bottles
Carrefour is one of the first retail chains in Poland to start preparations for the implementation of the deposit system. Already in December 2020, the chain started collecting returnable glass bottles manually in its Warsaw stores without having to show proof of purchase and paying customers the full deposit in payment vouchers. Carrefour has already collected over 45 million glass bottles from customers, which means that the collection of this type of packaging is over 2.5 times greater than their sales in all the chain's stores during the test period.
In January 2023, the company expanded its preparations for the implementation of the deposit system and, together with EKOPunkt Packaging Recovery Organization, started automatic collection of beverage packaging in 10 hyper- and supermarkets in the Silesian Voivodeship in a network of bottle dispensers. As part of it, Carrefour started accepting used plastic and aluminum packaging from customers. This test is still being carried out, and over the past 1.5 years, the company has managed to collect over 20 million packages from customers and send them to professional recycling.
In March 2024, the network created and presented the first product in Poland that meets all the requirements of the new act and also sets trends in the upcoming deposit system. It is mineral water produced under Carrefour's own brand and offered in a 0.5 liter plastic package. The bottle label of this water is equipped with a two-dimensional code compliant with the GS1 standard, which provides much more information about the product and data important in the supply chain and returnable packaging circulation. The code allows, among others: optimize key business processes on the part of entities operating the deposit system, and significantly increases the security of returnable packaging circulation, protecting it against possible abuses. The bottle label also contains information about the deposit amount, the operator of the deposit system, and recommends not to crush the packaging and return it to recover the deposit.
