Kaufland and Lidl will buy PET bottles and cans from February 23. So far only in selected stores. The pilot operation will be launched by both chains in three stores – which they will be revealed only on the day the purchase is launched.
In the pilot phase of the project, chains will not pay money for returned packaging, but only discount coupons for purchases. How much the packages will be bought for in the acute phase has not yet been determined either.
Retail chains Kaufland and Lidl are not the first to introduce the purchase of plastic bottles in the Czech Republic. Already last year, online store Košík.cz started taking bottles of Mattoni mineral water from its customers.
Thirteen countries have already implemented a plastic bottle take-back system in Europe. The first was Sweden in 1984 and Iceland in 1989, during the 1990s other Nordic countries – Finland and Norway – were added, followed in the new millennium by Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia and Lithuania, and last year by Latvia, Malta and Slovakia.
Work is also underway in the country to introduce a comprehensive buyback system. Last November, the Ministry of the Environment promised to develop a draft law on deposits, which in the future will allow the Czech Republic to deposit not only packaging, but also specific other products, such as car batteries. “The question of deposits is not yes or no, it’s how,” says David Surý, Deputy Minister for Environmental Protection Management.
So Kaufland and Lidl are testing something that all retailers who sell drinks in plastic or aluminum cans will probably have to do sooner or later. “This way, customers can try out the collection system for PET bottles and cans before it comes into effect,” says Kaufland spokeswoman Renata Maierl.
“Thanks to this pilot project, customers’ willingness to improve the collection of cans and PET bottles will be verified in a rational way. Its results will help in setting up further measures,” adds David Surý from the Ministry of the Environment.
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