Container-deposit legislation

Container-deposit legislation (also known as a container-deposit scheme, deposit-refund system or scheme, deposit-return system, or bottle bill) is any law that requires the collection of a monetary deposit on beverage containers (refillable or non-refillable) at the point of sale and/or the payment of refund value to the consumers. When the container is returned to an authorized redemption center, or retailer in some jurisdictions, the deposit is partly or fully refunded to the redeemer (presumed to be the original purchaser). It is a deposit-refund system.

Governments may pass container deposit legislation for several reasons, including to encourage recycling and complement existing curbside recycling programs; to reduce energy and material usage for containers, to reduce beverage container litter along highways, in lakes and rivers, and on other public or private properties (where beverage container litter occurs, a nominal deposit provides an economic incentive to clean it up, which can be a significant source of income to some poor individuals and non-profit civic organizations); and to extend the usable lifetime of taxpayer-funded landfills.

Deposits that are not redeemed are often kept by distributors or bottlers to cover the costs of the system (including handling fees paid to retailers or redemption centers to collect, sort, and handle the containers) or are escheated to the governmental entity involved to fund environmental programs. Studies have shown that container-deposit schemes are generally very successful in practice, with return rates commonly reaching up to 90% or more.

A & R Thwaites & Co in Dublin, Ireland, announced in 1799 the provision of artificial "soda water" and that they paid 2 shillings a dozen for returned bottles. Schweppes, who were also in the business of artificially made mineral waters, had a similar recycling policy from about 1800, without any legislation. Scottish bottled beverage companies also voluntarily introduced such a scheme to encourage the return of their bottles for reuse. In Sweden a standard system for deposits on PET bottles and aluminium cans was established by legislation in 1984.

British Columbia's legislated deposit-return system, enacted in 1970, is the oldest such program in North America.

By 2005, the beverage industry in Kenya applied a deposit-refund system for glass bottles that had proven to be popular amongst wholesalers, retailers and consumers alike to participate in, not just in Nairobi, but throughout the country. At the time, there was a deposit of 10 Kenyan shillings on soft drink bottles, and 25 shillings on beer bottles.

Although there is no formalised deposit-return scheme for packaging or plastics in South Africa, individual companies such as Coca-Cola have implemented deposit-return schemes for their own products with success. Manufacturers introduced this system without involvement of the government around 1948. Approximately 75% of beer containers, 45% of soft drink containers, and some wine and spirits bottles participate in the scheme. South Africa was noted in 2012 as one of the few countries that included plastic bottles in its schemes. Aside from bottles, similar deposit-refund schemes exist in South Africa for batteries, cars, and tyres.

By 1998, there were voluntary deposit-refund schemes for glass containers in Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico and Venezuela.