In three years, back November 2026, we will be able to go to any store and supermarket to return cans, bricks or plastic bottles. Before, when purchasing the drink, we will have “paid” a little more to rent the container that contains it, a kind of deposit that will be returned to us when we take the empty bottle, brick or can back to the establishment. This new system called SDDR or Deposit, Return and Return System has just been approved by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO). “Spain is at the same level as the more than 50 regions in the world in which the practice of returning the helmet works successfully,” the Zero Waste Alliance said in a statement along with the other 130 entities that promote this system and that They are part of the #LeyDeResiduosYa platform. For a few weeks, the government’s final decision had been awaited, which first, and according to the Waste Law approved in 2022, should make packaging recycling data public. If the indicator was below 70%, the SDDR would come out ahead.
The truth is that the path of the Deposit, Return and Return System has not been easy or short. Between April and June 2013, the first pilot test was carried out of this system in Cadaqués (promoted by Retorna and with the participation of several companies, it was supervised by the Catalan Waste Agency). The containers that were incorporated were the same as those that have been approved now: metal and plastic containers of less than three liters of water, beer, juices and soft drinks (including energy drinks and mixed drinks), “the most consumed products”, according to the promoters. of the test. A deposit of five cents per container was applied and eight small businesses and two supermarkets participated. At the end of the six months, a return of more than 90% of sales was achieved (previously, selective collection reached 35%). After Cadaqués, there would be some occasional pilots in Spain, such as in Formentera, and some attempts at implementation, such as in Valencia in 2016, but the SDDR experience in our country ends here for the moment, although in countries like Germany it is a practice. already consolidated (Germany implemented it in the 80s and boasts packaging recycling ratios of over 90%.
That is the objective of the SDDR: to improve packaging recycling and complement the Integrated Management System that already exists and is based on collection and management through the yellow container. «A significant part of the consumption of beverage cans and bottles takes place outside the home and is the waste that mostly ends up thrown into the environment and not recycled. In Spain We consume 55 million drinks every day and about 35 million end up in the environment. In places where the SDDR has been implemented 90% of the packaging has been recycled, much more than you can achieve through the container system,” they explain from the Retorna organization (one of the defenders of this system in Spain).
How much do we recycle in Spain? It is the question that justifies the implementation of the SDDR and also a reason for dispute in. According to the latest data published by Miteco (and those that led it to decide to implement the SDDR) the percentage of separate bottle collection in 2023 was 41.3%. More than 60% do not return to the system (that is, they are not recycled). 7/2022 established that if during 2023 the collection was less than 70%, the SDDR would be implemented and that the government had until the end of October 2024 to verify it. According to entities such as Retorna, plastic bottles that are collected separately have barely reached 36% if “the study carried out by Eunomia and commissioned by Zero Waste Europe” is taken into account. Ecoembes, the Collective System of Extended Producer Responsibility (SCRAP) that brings together 6,000 packaging companies and businesses and has been managing yellow container waste since 1998, raises the figure to 73.4%. In fact, the entity presented a statement as soon as the ministry’s data was known, warning that the rates do not match because the ministry “barely incorporates in its calculation the quantities collected in high-traffic areas (sports centers, hospitals, universities…) , which represent more than 40% of the total bottles selectively collected in 2022 and 2023.
Return the helmet?
With the SDDR approved, the process now begins for beverage brands and supermarkets, within a period of two years, to sell waters, juices, soft drinks, energy and isotonic drinks and alcoholic beverages with a small deposit that will be returned to whoever Return empty containers to the store. The price for renting the container will range between 0.02 and 0.30 euros. “They will be able to collect the containers either manually, storing them or installing a machine so that people can recover their money,” the Rezero organization indicates. There are about ten manufacturers of SDDR machines. Tomra, of Norwegian origin, has risen on the Oslo stock market since the arrival of the return and refund system was announced in Spain. “In less than a week the company’s stock registered an increase of 13.8%,” Cinco Días recently published.
It has sometimes been said that this SDDR is similar to returning the helmet that existed decades ago, however, there is some difference. Before the bottles, which were glass, were reused and now The purpose of the return is recycling. «The path is the same as for the yellow container packaging and the final destination is always recycling, not reuse as was the case in the past with the helmet. Glass bottles are the only ones that can be reused and that only continues to happen in the Horeca channel. This new system applies to plastic bottles that are not reused. Furthermore, that It means removing the highest quality PET plastics from the yellow container. If you remove the precious plastic that is PET, recycling the rest of what ends up in said container may cost more,” points out Eduardo Perero, deputy technical director of the Conama Foundation.
This point is also one of the most common when talking about the SDDR and is that the new deposit, return and return system only admits a part of the waste. «It is a complementary system that cannot work on its own. This type of beverage containers only represent 9-10% of the total collected. According to its promoters, the collection efficiency is between 90-95%, but even if it were at 80-85, It’s just about that fraction. Yes or yes there has to be a SCRAP that already collects what is deposited in bags from the street. Furthermore, in both cases you have to have the collaboration of citizens. We are neither for nor against, we simply say that there are details that must be taken into account. For example, you force establishments to have a place to store returns. We must also take into account the experience of existing SCRAPs,” explains Manuel Guerrero Pérez, director of the Foundation for the Circular Economy.
Circular Economy
For the spokespersons of the Rezero organization, the new deposit, return and return system can be a gateway to future reuse; an objective more aligned with the idea of circular economy. «The culture of reusing before, when clean glass was taken back to the store, has been lost. That is the path that the SDDR opens, that of changing habits. In the Horeca channel, reuse has never been lost and there are some successful initiatives outside this channel as well. Veritas, for example, has its reuse system for Vichy water helmets. Now the same thing will happen with establishments. What I’m telling you is a step beyond what has been approved, which does not include glass, but it is our goal; not so much that it is recycled as it is that it is reused to avoid generating waste.
Two years to see how it will work
The Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (FIAB) has reacted to the approval of the new system by warning that now “there will be a time for its definition and consideration of the particularities of our country, as well as sufficient adaptation for its successful implementation.” , given that the model represents an important change in processes for the entire chain and a substantial modification in consumer habits. From the Foundation for the Circular Economy they wonder how it will be implemented in the towns of empty Spain or in unpopulated places: «Will the merchant first have to pay the cost of installing the collection machine? And how often will it be collected? Because if it is every few days, the environmental impact of transportation will have to be added,” says Manuel Guerrero.