Will the deposit system accept a flattened bottle? Fight for business / Article / LSM.lv

In early August, the government will decide on the rules for the packaging deposit system, which is due to become operational on 1 February 2022. The rules have sparked a debate on whether the deposit system should also accept flattened PET bottles. A new Latvian company promises equipment that would also accept damaged packaging, but the potential system operator sees risks of fraud.

IN SHORT:

• The deposit system should be operational by 2022. year, but rules have yet to be adopted.
• A company has already been established that wants to create a deposit system – the equipment would cost around 25 million.
• The potential operator is concerned about the possibility for the MEPRD to hand over flattened bottles, because it does not do it anywhere.
• A new Latvian company promises to also accept flattened bottles.
• The potential operator sees a risk of fraud in accepting flattened bottles.
• The equipment manufacturer thinks that fraud could be prevented by user authentication.

Latvia’s largest beverage producers have already set up the company “Deposit Packaging Operator”, which hopes to persuade the State Environmental Service to entrust it with the establishment of a deposit system. The operator will have to buy equipment that will accept the bottles, and the company’s manager Miks Stūrītis estimates that it could cost around 25 million euros.

The company is concerned that the responsible ministry has provided in the rules of the deposit system for the possibility for the residents to receive the paid 10 cents back for flattened and damaged plastic bottles and cans.

“We have studied this issue in great detail. According to our information, no country with a deposit system allows the return of flattened bottles. [..] What we would like is the wording so that every inhabitant of Latvia, reading these regulations, would be completely clear that the packaging must be returned uncompressed, “said Stūrītis.

However, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (MEPRD) has left the disputed norms in the draft regulations, although emphasizing that the acceptance of flattened packaging will not be a mandatory requirement for the operator.

“These views are contradictory.

There is a side that says that it is not possible anywhere in the world yet, while there are traders who say that it is possible. [..] We want the latest opportunities to be available to the people of Latvia, “commented Alda Ozola, Deputy State Secretary of the MEPRD.

The Ministry has listened to the recently established company “WinGo deposit”, the largest investor of which is Jānis Vilgerts, the head of the Latvian Association of Waste Management Companies. WinGo deposit is currently developing a new bottle acceptance device that can also accept flattened packaging.

It is not yet possible to display it in the “WinGo deposit” due to an outstanding patent. The company’s goal is to get the deposit system operator to choose the equipment they create.

“They are all made in Latvia, not imported from anywhere. Everything here is in cooperation with Latvian metal processing companies and other technology companies. [..]

I believe that this could be one of Latvia’s success stories to be proud of – to show that we can not only follow, “

said WinGo deposit spokesman Vismands Menjoks.

The potential operator is skeptical.

The flattened bottle can be recognized by the equipment of several manufacturers, but no one can eliminate the risks of fraud.

The corner said that since all the bottle dispensers inside the bottles flatten the bottles, it would be possible for the service staff to collect and hand them over again. In addition, the shape of the bottle is one of the characteristics by which the machine can recognize whether 10 cents have been paid for the bottle.

“Technology is able to determine what type of packaging it is – glass, metal or plastic, but what no technology we can see today can do with flattened packaging – to determine whether this packaging is a part of the packaging system with 99.9% accuracy,” said Stūrītis .

“We build this system from the end user’s point of view,

not from the point of view of a particular manufacturer. To be comfortable, predictable, and perhaps he already has an agreement. We want to make it comfortable for the end user, and we ourselves have been taught to flatten from the nineties [pudeles], “said Menjok.

According to him, fraud could be prevented by other methods, such as user authentication. The choice of equipment will be up to the operator. Stūrītis pointed out that in case SIA “Depozītapakojuma operators” will acquire the right to establish a deposit system in Latvia, an open tender will be organized for the purchase of equipment. The advantage of the possibility to transfer a flattened bottle without it.

CONTEXT:

The deposit system in Latvia must start operating in February 2022, and its basic principles are set out in law. After years of procrastination and a series of unsuccessful attempts last year it decided by the Saeima. LTV show “De facto” already reportedthat there is a struggle to determine the criteria that the State Environmental Service will have to follow. Zinamithat the goods included in the packaging deposit system on store shelves will become ten cents more expensive, because this is exactly how it will be possible to recover by handing over the emptied bottle or can.

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