Deposit refund system – New era in Hungarian stores: Bottle redemption system takes off
From 1 July, the Deposit Refund System launches officially in Hungary. From the beginning of the month, beverage manufacturers in Hungary are required to use only metal, plastic, and glass packaging compliant with the newly implemented deposit refund system. On the retail side, redemption machines are now ready for operation.
Bottle redemption system takes off in Hungary
The new beverage packaging deposit refund system in Hungary launched on 1 January 2024 and officially started on July 1 after a six-month transitional period. Moving forward, manufacturers can only market products in containers ranging from 0.1 to 3 litres that are recollectable, Economx reports.
Consumers will pay an additional HUF 50 as a deposit, refundable when they return empty bottles to any of the designated MOHU redemption machines. Discarding beer cans, soft drink bottles, or mineral water bottles harms not only the environment but also one’s wallet from now on. However, non-refundable packaging will still be encountered, as manufacturers were allowed to create those until 30 June.
How to use the deposit refund system?
There are three ways to receive a refund:
- Through a voucher issued by the redemption machine, convertible to cash in-store or deducted from the total purchase amount.
- Using the REpont app, consumers who pre-register and provide their bank account details can receive an immediate transfer of the refund. Before depositing bottles, it’s recommended to scan the QR code and verify that the screen displays the correct name.
- Alternatively, consumers can choose to donate the refund to charity.
By Saturday morning, 6 July, over 10 million redemptions had already occurred, with approximately 200,000 downloads of the REpont app, Economx reports. The number of app downloads continues to increase steadily, according to MOHU, which coordinates the mandatory Deposit Refund System (DRS) across the country. There are already 3,000 redemption points nationwide awaiting consumers.
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We embrace this Concept.
It’s role of importance to to cleaning up this PLANET.
We do encounter in Aldi and SPA super-markets constant machine notices of being “Out of Order”.
It’s our RESPONSIBILITY to know what can be returned and Not, that could be a factor, why on a to regular basic’s these machines are “Out of Order”.
Be diligent observant – what you can and can’t PLACE in them.
A waste of time and money – but for EU-buerocrats it is a wet dream.
Just another way local governments have to do less work paying for recycling. I am willing to bet the citizenry won’t pay less for garbage and recycle collection. Stay tuned to many broken recycle machine!