— By Vladislav Vorotnikov — 

Over 2.8 bn PET bottles and aluminium cans were collected in Sweden through the deposit return system (DRS) in 2024, compared with 2.7 bn in the previous year, Returpack (Norrköping, Sweden; www.pantamera.nu), operator of the national DRS, recently stated. The deposit return rate, however, inched down to 87.6% from 88.5% in 2023, the organisation said.

On average, every person in Sweden delivered 271 containers for recycling. This collective effort prevented over 180,000 t of CO₂ emissions last year.

In January, Returpack – also known by brand name Pantamera – announced its plan to raise deposit rates. The DRS company appears to be progressing as planned and is set to increase deposits from SEK 1 (EUR 0.09) to SEK 2 (EUR 0.18) for aluminium cans and small PET bottles, and from SEK 2 (EUR 0.18) to SEK 3 (EUR 0.27) for large PET bottles. The new rates are expected to take effect in September 2025. Returpack said its aims is to encourage consumers to sort materials more effectively by making the process more appealing.

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The tariff increase is associated with certain challenges, however, as under the Swedish DRS law, the deposit amount must be clearly stated on the product packaging. This means that packaging manufacturers will need to update DRS markings on over 11,000 items. Subsequently, the packaging will be registered in Returpack’s system and run through various tests. In addition, all deposit machines need to be updated to be able to handle the new deposit amounts.

During the brief transition phase, the same packaging will be deposited under different prices.

“There will be no point in saving old packaging, as it will not be worth more. So, the best thing is to continue depositing as usual,” said Katarina Lundell, marketing and communications manager at Returpack.

However, Returpack said it is confident that the effort will be worthwhile, as the new tariffs are expected to drive recycling rates above 90%.

Swedish DRS achieves noticeable progress in collecting more packaging at a time when the plastics recycling industry is struggling to improve the capacity utilisation ratio, as stated by Swedish Plastic Recycling (Motala; www.svenskplastatervinning.se).

“Sweden has all the infrastructure needed to recycle significantly more plastic packaging – but the majority still ends up mixed in household waste, which is incinerated,” Mattias Philipsson, CEO of Swedish Plastic Recycling, said.

Municipalities, brand owners, and producer organisations must now intensify their efforts to reach out to residents to encourage more separate waste collection, the organisation emphasised.