The first five taromats are installed in supermarkets in Riga, as well as in the “Citro” store in Ventspils. Until the start of the deposit system, it is planned to place about 800 taromats in Latvia, including about 200 places in outdoor kiosks near retail outlets.
On February 1 next year, a deposit system will come into force, which will bring some changes to the population – when buying certain types of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, you will have to pay separately for packaging, but after emptying the containers can be recycled and almost recovered in the store.
The deposit system is practically implemented by SIA “Depozīta Package Operator” (DIO), which has concluded an agreement with the State Environmental Services, which consists of several beverage producers – “Aldaris”, “Cido grupa”, “Coca-Cola HBC Latvia” and “Cēsu alus”. This company will supply stores with automatic machines for automatic collection of packaging, as well as, after the introduction of the deposit system, will organize the delivery of the delivered packaging for recycling.
On November 24, 2002, the State Secretaries of Latvia promulgated the first regulations on the application of the deposit system to reusable packaging. They were due to enter into force on 1 January 2003, but did not. The decision was postponed four more times, and only now has real progress been made towards the introduction of a deposit system, with a view to making it operational from 1 February 2022. Latvia is the last of the three Baltic States to introduce such a system, although 84.5% of the population consider it necessary.
Although it seems that there is still a long way to go until February 1, Miks Stūrītis, Chairman of the Board of SIA “Depozītapakojuma operators”, points out that the remaining months will be busy: “Most contracts have been concluded with stores that they also want to join it voluntarily. According to current data, there will be more than 1,400 deposit packaging acceptance points in Latvia, including taromats installed in approximately 800 locations. The other stores will organize the manual acceptance of the packaging – set up a reception place where the employee will work. Supermarkets, on the other hand, often choose to set up a so-called kiosk – a container-type high-capacity vending machine – outside the sales area in an area where it is easily accessible by car and can deliver large quantities of bottles and cans. It is planned that at the beginning of the deposit system there will be about 200 kiosks in Latvia.
In order to make the necessary taromas, they had to be ordered by the beginning of August; not all stores have a contract with the DIO by this deadline, so they will probably provide the service manually until the taromat is installed. Outside the cities, about 150 stores with a sales space of less than 60 square meters and for which the acceptance of the deposit package is not obligatory have expressed their wish to participate in the deposit system. “Especially in rural areas, where there are not many shops, customers will still be provided with service,” M. Stūrītis is satisfied. He does not deny that driving to remote small shops after a small amount of packaging has been handed over to the DIO will be financially disadvantageous, but emphasizes that the deposit system is not a profit-making activity, its aim is to reduce the amount of waste going to nature.
The vending machine, which will be installed in shops, will make it easy and simple to hand over the beverage packaging, but where there will be no such display, employees will have to check the packaging themselves, . “After that, the packaging will have to be placed in a special bag and the deposit will be returned to the buyer in cash or as a discount for the purchase. The transportation of accepted packages, as well as transport bags, fasteners and bag racks will be provided free of charge by DIO.
“We have data that 60-70% of all waste released into the environment is packaging that will be managed by the deposit system in the future – plastic and glass bottles, cans. Our goal is to reach up to 90% of such waste at transfer points within two to three years. Yes, a lot of people sort household waste and throw away beverage packaging in their containers. But the problem is that these containers are not available everywhere, moreover, the extra money spent on packaging will motivate it not to throw it in the forest or leave it in a resting place, but to return it to the store to recover these expenses, ”M. Stūrītis hopes.
He also emphasizes that it is not worthwhile for consumers to start collecting packaging now, which will be accepted for payment after 1 February. The system will become operational when beverage producers fill products with bottles marked with the deposit system identification mark and pay for the management of these containers. Accordingly, buyers will be able to return only this marked packaging for a fee, because they will have paid a 10-cent deposit when buying it. Unlabelled containers will still have space in sorted waste containers.
FOR REFERENCE
From February 1, it will be possible to transfer to the deposit system:
# glass bottles with a capacity of 0.1 to 3 liters (not included);
# glass bottles for other fermented products with an alcohol content of up to 6% from 0.1 to 0.75 liters (excluding);
# plastic (PET material group) bottles with a capacity of 0.1 to 3 liters (not included);
# plastic bottles for beer and other fermented products with an alcohol content of up to 6% from 0.1 to 0.5 or 1 liter and cans with a capacity of 0.2 to 1 liter;
# tin cans.
The material was created with the support of the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund. SIA “Kurzemes Vārds” and regional publishing houses are responsible for the content of publications.
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