ACR+

By Mark Cordle, Laurence Elliott, Tim Elliott, Dr Sarah Kemp, Dr Chris Sherrington, Orla Woods.

Executive Summary

Eunomia Research & Consulting (Eunomia) was commissioned by Institut Cirkulární Ekonomiky (INCIEN) and Karlovarské minerální vodyto design and model a deposit refund system (DRS) for disposable beverage containers in the Czech Republic. Their aim is to support the circular economy in the Czech Republic and to improve the recycling rate of beverage containers. The purpose of this study is to determine the costs and implications of a DRS designed to deliver a 90% recycling rate. Currently, there is a degree of uncertainty over the separate collection and recycling rates in the Czech Republic but, following a thorough analysis by INCIEN, it is estimated that approximately69.5% ofPET bottles are separated, and 56% of PET bottles and 30% of metal cans are sent for recycling. These findings differ from the results provided by EKO-KOM, a Czech Green-dot operator. Although there are many reasons to use INCIEN’s results, it was agreed that this study would use an estimate of the PET recycling rate (65%) provided by EKO-KOM. This means that the projected improvement in the recycling rate under a DRS is more conservative than if INCIEN’s figures were used in the study