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Design of deposit refund system for recycling of single use beverage packaging

Malouchou Ioanna

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Summary

The European Union (EU) has set ambitious targets for the reuse and recycling of single use beverage packaging. In accordance with the global mobilization to address the issue of plastic waste and marine pollution and in line with the targets set by the European Legislation on the collection and recycling of single use beverage packaging, the EU Member States will need to implement policy instruments to achieve these targets. An effective instrument towards Circular Economy and sustainable management of single use beverage packaging is the implementation of the Deposit Refund System (DRS) at national level, which has been in operation effectively for many years in several European markets. In order to encourage consumers to return their empty single use beverage containers for recycling, the DRS entails the placement of a noteworthy amount of money, called refundable fee, on the selling price of each beverage as an incentive. The price of the refundable fee is refunded in full when the consumer returns the container to the collection points of the deposit refund system.The scope of this thesis is to evaluate the implementation and design of an effective DRS in Greece for recycling of single use beverage packaging made of plastic, aluminium and glass following the European and National Legislation and the relevant commitments. More specifically, the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive sets a collection target for plastic bottles to 77% and 90% by 2025 and 2029, respectively. A technoeconomic assessment is conducted to investigate the increased recovery and recycling rates of packaging resulting in higher purity of the material collected considering DRS as an integral centralised scheme with not-for-profit management.Initially, a survey is performed in operational and under development markets in Europe to identify the design elements and fundamental principles for a successful scheme. The development of the economic model of the DRS, which consists of different categories of income and expenses necessary for its operation, is applied for an operating period of seven years, starting in 2024 and is carried out taking into account the contracted quantities of primary plastic, glass and aluminium packaging available in the Greek market. The estimated total material flow of single-use plastic, glass and aluminium containers in the Greek market constitutes 58% of the contracted primary packaging, with the aim of making 3.6 billion packages subject to the deposit return system. The forecast of quantity growth for the study years of the economic model is based on research on the growth rate of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. According to them, the total amount of single-use beverage packaging produced is expected to reach 3.9 billion packages by 2030. The amount of deposits in circulation ranges from 400 million euros in 2024 to 430 million euros in 2030. Subsequently, the recovery rates of post consumed packaging waste are calculated in line with studies carried out for other EU DRS management models and having as a milestone the recycling rates set by national legislation for plastic, glass and aluminium packaging in 2025 and 2030. The amount of unredeemed deposits will start at 154 million euros and decrease to 85 million euros by 2030. Different approaches were considered and a wide variety of sources and data were obtained to develop and evaluate key parameters.

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