Get Paid to Recycle: The UK's Deposit Return Scheme Explained

Party Kit Network
Jun 8
7 min read

Hand placing a plastic bottle into a reverse vending machine; screen shows START and 0.00 on a silver panel.

You may be old enough to remember your grandparents collecting glass bottles to return to the corner shop, or earning a bit of pocket money hunting down empties as a kid. Deposit schemes for drinks containers were a normal part of British life as recently as the late 1980s, when soft drinks firms still charged a 10 pence deposit on bottles. The rise of supermarkets and the shift to cheaper, disposable materials meant the habit gradually faded.

Now, nearly four decades later, the idea is coming back. From October 2027, a new Deposit Return Scheme will reintroduce the principle your grandparents already understood: when empty containers have value, people return them.

What Is the Deposit Return Scheme?

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is a system where a small deposit is added to the price of drinks in eligible containers. When you return the empty container to a designated collection point, you get that money back. The idea is to make recycling financially rewarding for everyday people, with the aim of increasing return rates and reducing the number of recyclable containers going into landfill.

The UK DRS is set to go live in October 2027, and will be one of the most significant DRS launches in Europe in recent years, covering around 70 million people and over 20 billion in-scope containers annually.

What Containers Are Included?

The deposit will apply to all single-use drinks containers made wholly or mainly from aluminium, steel, or PET plastic, with a capacity of between 150ml and 3 litres. Think standard water bottles, fizzy drink cans, and juice bottles in that size range.

Containers are not included if they are reusable, or if they are made from HDPE plastic, the material used to make milk bottles.

Drink cartons are also excluded from the scheme; the kind you might pack in a child's lunchbox, or use for oat milk or orange juice. This is a contested exclusion, and Tetra Pak has been calling for cartons to be included in the UK DRS from its launch, arguing that the limited scope risks confusing consumers who are used to recycling a wider range of materials through existing routes.

Wales is going a step further. Its own DRS will also include glass bottles, making it the most comprehensive version of the scheme in the UK.

How Will DRS Work?

When you buy an eligible drink, a deposit will be added to the price at the till. To get that money back, you simply return the empty container to a return point. The deposit will be paid back to you via voucher, card or cash.

Supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores and newsagents that sell drinks included in the scheme must host a return point, which can be manual or automated using a reverse vending machine. There will be more than 20,000 collection points across the country, so finding somewhere to return your containers should be straightforward.

If you buy drinks online, some retailers may register as a take-back service provider, meaning they can collect your empty containers at the point of delivery and refund your deposit at the same time.

What About Pubs, Cafes and Restaurants?

This is where it gets particularly relevant for anyone hosting events or gatherings. If a venue sells drinks for immediate consumption on the premises, such as a cafe, restaurant or pub, it can choose not to charge the deposit at the point of sale. These venues should collect and store empty containers, and the deposit management organisation will collect them and refund the deposit. Venues must display clear information stating they are an opt-out premises and asking customers to leave their empty containers behind.

Hospitality venues, food-to-go stores, schools, gyms, sports centres, community centres and mobile caterers can all apply to become voluntary return points. This could be a real opportunity for event organisers and community spaces to play an active role in the scheme and raise funds for local causes.

What Happens to the Collected Material?

The deposit management organisation will be responsible for arranging the collection and recycling of in-scope materials, and will make collected material available to producers for purchase. This means the bottles and cans you return are intended to re-enter the production supply chain, closing the loop on packaging materials.

There is, however, a growing capacity issue within the plastics recycling industry, and ensuring that collected material is actually recycled safely remains an important challenge. To help tackle this, Re-turn, the administrator of Ireland's DRS, is developing Ireland's first on-island PET bottle-to-bottle recycling facility, which will enable PET plastic bottles collected through the scheme to be fully recycled within the country, reducing reliance on exporting PET plastic for processing.

What Are the Collection Targets?

The scheme has clear ambitions built in. The targets below refer to the percentage of all in-scope drink containers sold that must be returned and collected for recycling each year.

For England and Northern Ireland, collection targets are set at 70% by 2028, rising to 80% in 2029 and 90% by 2030.

Wales has its own targets, aiming for an 85% collection rate by 2031 and 95% by 2032. Wales also introduces a reuse target, requiring that 5% of containers collected by 2031 and 15% by 2032 are returned for reuse rather than just recycling.

DRS In Germany

The UK is not starting from scratch. Deposit return schemes have been running around the world for decades, with Canada introducing the world's first government-legislated DRS as far back as 1970. Germany's experience, offers a particularly useful illustration of what a mature, large-scale scheme can deliver.

Germany launched its deposit refund scheme in 2003, taking inspiration from systems already running in Nordic countries. The scheme covers glass, metal and plastic containers, and has achieved a 98% collection rate.

The long-term environmental results have been significant. Research from Reloop found that Germany alone diverted over 5.7 million tonnes of containers from landfill and saved more than 7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions between 2015 and 2024. Before the scheme launched, beverage containers made up 20% of total litter by volume in Germany. Following the introduction of the DRS, beverage container littering was nearly eliminated.

DRS In Ireland

Ireland launched its own DRS in 2024, and the early results have exceeded expectations.

The Irish public has returned over 1.6 billion bottles and cans through the scheme since its launch, and an estimated 798 million more containers are now being recycled each year compared to before the scheme began. Recycling rates have jumped from just 49% to an estimated 91%, with 76% of containers captured directly through the DRS and a further 15% collected via mixed dry recycling.

The impact on litter has been equally striking. The Coastwatch Annual Marine Litter Survey found that 2024 recorded the lowest average levels of bottle and can litter on Irish shores in 25 years. Irish Business Against Litter also reported a 50% drop in litter from bottles and cans since the scheme launched.

More than 3,600 schools, clubs, and community groups across Ireland have embraced the scheme to support local causes, from funding life-saving equipment to backing grassroots sports projects.

It Is Not Without Challenges

The DRS is not a perfect solution. Here are the key challenges worth knowing about.

It does not cover everything. Coffee cups, drink cartons and other packaging fall outside the scheme and still need to go through the usual recycling routes (where available).
It asks more of consumers. Returning containers requires more effort than dropping them in the kerbside bin. It will mean storing empties at home and then remembering to take them to a return point.
It can create new litter problems. Following the introduction of DSR in Ireland, Dubin has seen a rise in bin raiding, where people search public bins for unredeemed containers with deposit value. Dublin City Council reported that bin raiding has already cost the city €500,000, with staff forced to clean up additional waste from city streets.
It could cannibalise existing recycling. There is a risk the scheme simply shifts containers that would already have been recycled via kerbside collections, rather than capturing genuinely new material. The real goal is to reach people who are not yet active recyclers and intercept containers that would otherwise end up as litter or general waste.
It poses a financial risk to local councils. Councils currently earn income from selling sorted high-value materials like PET plastic and aluminium, which helps fund kerbside collection services. Analysis commissioned by the Local Government Association estimates councils in England could lose around £61.4 million per year in net income once the scheme reaches its 90% return rate target. That is money that currently helps fund the recycling services we all rely on

The Bottom Line

The UK's Deposit Return Scheme represents a genuine shift in how we think about drinks packaging. For most people, it will mean a small change to shopping habits, with a financial reward for doing the right thing. For venues and event organisers, it opens up new responsibilities and real opportunities to be part of something bigger.

The challenges are real and worth watching. But if the evidence from Germany and Ireland is anything to go by, the UK has a meaningful opportunity to reduce plastic and metal waste at a national scale.

It is worth remembering, though, that recycling is not the final answer. Collection schemes like this are a vital step forward, but the most genuinely circular solution is to use fewer disposable items in the first place. The DRS will hopefully get more bottles and cans back into the system, but the bigger picture is about rethinking our relationship with single-use packaging altogether.

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