A new legislative proposal submitted in the Polish Sejm aims to completely abolish the mandatory deposit system for beverage bottles and cans, sparking immediate pushback from the Ministry of Climate. <\/p>\n
Paying 50 groszy extra for a beverage and getting your money back upon returning an empty bottle or can may soon cease to be mandatory. A bill submitted in the Sejm proposes the total liquidation of the entire deposit system. For now, it is merely a proposal, but if passed, the rules familiar to consumers since October 2025 could change completely. The Ministry of Climate has already criticized the project.<\/p>\n
The bill was introduced by Confederation MPs, whose authors argue that the current solution is costly, burdensome for consumers, and fails to meet expectations. The deposit system was introduced into Polish regulations on November 21, 2024, and effectively took effect on October 1st, 2025.<\/p>\n
The core proposal is straightforward: the active deposit system would disappear from the regulations. This would mean abandoning the mechanism where consumers pay an additional fee upon purchasing specific beverages, which is then refunded upon returning the empty packaging. The draft assumes the elimination of the mandatory system and the entities currently managing its operations.<\/p>\n
The authors of the bill point to problems that the deposit system creates for consumers and local governments. One of the main arguments is the inconvenience of returning packaging, including the availability of return points, issues with reverse vending machines, and the necessity of storing and transporting empty bottles and cans.<\/p>\n
The justification cites research regarding Poles’ attitudes toward the deposit system, arguing that a portion of consumers do not use the return options and view the system negatively. “For many citizens, the deposit has become an additional fee rather than money to be recovered,” the authors argue.<\/p>\n
The Confederation’s proposal met with an immediate government reaction. Minister of Climate and Environment Paulina Hennig-Kloska sharply criticized the idea, arguing that withdrawing the system would harm the environment and waste huge investments made by entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
“The deposit system means 2.3 billion packages returned in half a year, 64 thousand return points across Poland, and new reverse vending machines appearing near beaches and housing estates. The numbers don’t lie. Poles are using the deposit system, and another Confederation commotion won’t change that,” the minister wrote on platform X.<\/p>\n
The bill proposes removing the entire deposit mechanism from regulations. Concurrently, consumers would still be able to return previously purchased packaging and collect their due deposits for six months after the law enters into force.<\/p>\n
The bill’s authors claim that the deposit system weakened local government revenues by removing valuable waste\u2014such as PET bottles and aluminum cans\u2014from municipal collection systems, increasing waste management costs. The justification estimates losses for local governments reaching several billion zlotys over the coming years, arguing that garbage fees could stop rising so quickly if the system is abolished.<\/p>\n
Abolishing the system would also create problems for companies that invested millions in its operation. The authors admit that compensation claims from system operators cannot be excluded, estimating potential claims could range from 100 to 500 million PLN, though they claim real state costs would be lower.<\/p>\n
EU regulations require high levels of selective beverage packaging collection, often achieved via deposit systems. Confederation argues that Brussels does not mandate a specific method and that Poland could rely on alternative solutions, such as expanding plastic and aluminum collection networks.<\/p>\n
At this stage, no final decision has been made. The bill was submitted to the Sejm on August 6, 2026, and directed to the Legislative Bureau and the Bureau of Expertise and Regulatory Impact Assessment for review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new legislative proposal submitted in the Polish Sejm aims to completely abolish the mandatory deposit system for beverage bottles and cans, sparking immediate pushback from the Ministry of Climate. Will the Deposit System for Bottles and Cans Come to an End? Paying 50 groszy extra for a beverage and getting your money back upon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}