Ecological impact of the deposit system for drinks

[Christophe]

The introduction of national provisions for packaging instructions is authorized within the European Union only when it is justified on grounds related to environmental protection. ADEME therefore carried out, between 2008 and 2010, several works in order to qualify the environmental impact of the deposit for beverage packaging, in the specific context of France.

2-page synthetic pdf: https://www.econologie.info/share/partag ... FNLQsZ.pdf

Intro:

STAKES

Reducing waste and recycling it are two priority objectives of European and French waste management policies. In terms of packaging, a European Directive sets recycling and recovery targets for packaging waste while leaving member states the choice of means.

Long used in France for glass beverage packaging, the deposit has gradually disappeared. It still exists today in certain circuits (in the circuit of hotel cafes and restaurants for glass bottles and kegs) and certain regions (beer in Alsace for example), without there being any regulatory obligation.

The introduction of national instructions provisions, which may generate constraints which are sources of distortion of competition, is authorized within the European Union only when it is justified on grounds related to environmental protection.

ADEME therefore carried out, between 2008 and 2010, several works in order to qualify the environmental impact of the deposit for beverage packaging, in the specific context of France.

Technical principles

Returnable packaging is packaging for which the buyer pays a sum of money, the deposit, which is returned to him when he returns the packaging.
The deposit system can be used to increase the return of packaging for two purposes: either reuse for refillable packaging or recycling. The countries which have set up deposit systems also follow an objective of reducing unauthorized deposits, the deposit acting in effect as a "price signal" for the consumer, pushing him to return the packaging concerned.

In France, at present, the deposit only concerns re-use.

(...)

Excerpt:

With regard to beverage packaging used by households, the environmental impact of refillable glass can be up to 4 times lower than that of single-use glass if the distribution circuits are short (round trip distance less 260 km) and if the majority of distributors are equipped to take back the returnable packaging.

The environmental benefit of reuse compared to single-use packaging can, however, be canceled if we compare different materials. For example, according to logistics organizations, the single-use plastic bottle (PET), selectively collected, presents a better assessment for the various environmental impacts than the refillable glass bottle because the plastic bottle mobilizes, for its manufacture, much less material.

The economic impact of re-employment has been the subject of very few studies in France and in Europe. It is therefore difficult to draw an overall cost / benefit balance.

Source: http://www2.ademe.fr/servlet/KBaseShow? ... atid=20266

[the middle]

In Germany, plastic bottles are returned, in Canada too I think.
http://news.massolia.com/bio-durable/co ... ca-marche/

[Christophe]

In Canada I don't know, in Germany yes but not all I think.

I think that it is not a legal obligation and that it is of the goodwill of the seller (Lidl Germany does it for example)

In Belgium it is the (small) bottles of beer that are.

It always surprises the French when I say it ...

[phil53]

The deposit must be a political will, then it would be implemented economically and for it to be ecological (distance problem) taxes must be adjusted.
But the sectors in place would cry scandal, job cuts with passage to the TV of unhappy consumers.

[elephant]

quote:

if the distribution channels are short

I still knew (born in 54) the tour of the brewer with dung horse (essential to bring it back to port on certain days ..... ), from the village brewery, in bottles with porcelain corks with lever.

In '63, he still bought himself a "hit" and closed shop around '68, overtaken by the productivity of the average industry.

We didn't lock the door: the empty bins were waiting for him in the laundry room with the money.

At that time, the "main road" was paved, had only 2 lanes plus a cycle track and the site of the tram track.

[Did67]

Yesssss!

You are not alone in having known that!

Note: revival of micro-breweries, in reaction to industrial knick-knacks, with sometimes, again, short cycles (when the ADEME speaks of 260 km, I laugh; in Alsace, at worst, the nearest brewery was in the neighboring village!) Note that this still exists in Bavaria very commonly, with local breweries where people come with a plastic steel to replace the empty bottles with full ones and go to the cash register. Why at home ????

[elephant]

Did 67 said:

You are not alone in having known that!

Certainly not, and you see me delighted.

My wife will say that I am an old barbon, but what time: we rode a bike like fools, we washed very little, we (well, my wife) would drink milk from the udder Etc. ...

and we're still alive

[Macro]

I was born almost 20 years after you elephant..and I knew this kind of tour with the horse and the moms who run in the street in Ireland in the 80s..Milk, coal, beers, sodas .... all in returnable glass packaging.

[elephant]

You see me delighted for you. I would still have liked to see coal delivered in returnable bottles ........

[Did67]

To close the nostalgia sequence and get back to the subject: ADEME talks about "environmental impact", it still needs to be defined!

- energy?
- oil ?
- raw material ?

In this case, the sand being "unlimited" (in relation to the needs), the glass bottle must be considered under the aspect "energy": to produce it, then to transport it ... then water / energy for the clean / sterilize ....

The plastic bottle "immobilizes" a little oil (while waiting to be burned in a power station?), Then must be transported? Here, the question seems to me above all to be that of recycling. If the bottles were all well recycled, we could say that instead of burning fuel oil to heat or transform petroleum into clothing, we first make plastic bottles, transport the liquid with them, then recycle the bottle (" polar "or heating). Suddenly, the "plastic" is much less maddening than it seems.

And the glass much less "green" than it seems, no doubt ????