Deposit on the packages will improve the recycling in Bulgaria

1. The deposit system is clear and easy to use.
The consumers can understand the meaning of the deposit for 10 seconds, in contrast to the coloured street containers for separate collecting. During the ten years since the introduction of the separate collecting in Bulgaria neither the different ORPWs, nor the local and the central authorities have managed to persuade and teach the citizens to separate their garbage. The introduction of deposit will create one more way for participation in the separate collecting and at last will give a direct stimulus to the consumers to contribute to the recycling.

2. The deposits lead to more recycling
In the present system of separate collecting the coloured containers draw on the average around 15% of the recyclable waste and in practice there is no difference between the content of the mixed and the separated trash bin. The mixing of the materials diminishes their quality and market price.

The deposit systems increases not only the quantity of the total recycling by 30%, but also the quality of the recycled materials. The system provides up to 95% high quality recycling of the thus collected packages. This on its part leads to more effective economy and opens new green working places at local level.

3. The deposits are just
The probability for the packages with deposits to be thrown outside the determined places is 10 times smaller than for the remaining packages, and the total level of non-regulated pollution falls by 30%.
Due to ineffective separate collecting a large part of the potentially recyclable materials today are defused through burying in dumping grounds, depots and through burning at cement factories. This represents loss for the economy and a growing expense for the local taxpayers, who cover the price for the waste of these potential scraps through tax “Domestic waste”.

4. Stimulus for more ecological packages
Through the deposit the producers take their responsibility for the packages, which they produce to a much more complete extent than through the coloured containers. This follows to lead to the gradual introduction of better, more durable packages, suitable for repeated use, recycling or composting.

5. The range of the deposit systems constantly increases
The deposit systems operate in more than 40 regions and countries around the world [3">, 10 of which are in Europe. Lithuania will introduce deposit system in 2016, and on the way are 3 more regions in Europe: Scotland (United Kingdom), Katalonia (Spain) and Flanders (Belgium). Up to now neither one of these countries and regions has rejected the deposit system, on the contrary more and more regions implement it.

“The question is not whether the deposit system works. The real question is whether the producers will take their responsibility not only to participate in the system, but also to produce packages, which can be used many times and to be actually recycled”, said Evgenia Tasheva, part of team “Zero waste” at “For the Earth”.
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Notes:
[1"> The deposit systems around the world have different range – usually include drinks packages – glass, plastic bottles, metal cans, juice boxes and others. In Bulgaria still operates deposit system on some glass beer bottles for repeated use. Deposit may be assessed also on packages for single use with the aim of their return in the economy by the consumer through high quality recycling.

[2"> Ecological association “For the Earth”
Sofia, bl.”Yanko Sakazov” 11B, apt.2, tel/fax 02/943 11 23, 0896 62 88 08
e-mail: info@zazemiata.org ; Internet: www.zazemiata.org

[3"> Deposit systems have been functioning in Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Israel, Denmark, Germany, Estonia (since 2005), Holland, Croatia (since 2006) and in dozens of regions of the USA and Canada still since the 70’s and 80’s of the 20th century.