Hungary deposit-return system reaches half a billion milestone

Half a billion bottles and cans have gone through Hungary’s new deposit-return system (DRS), MOHU, a unit of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL that has a nationwide municipal waste management concession, said on Friday.

MOHU noted that more than 3 billion beverages in bottles and cans are sold each year. The goal is to boost the recycling rate for that packaging to at least 90pc within three years, it added. The DRS operates at 3,700 locations around the country, including 1,300 where returns are manual.

Paper vouchers for in-store purchases with a value of more than HUF 20 billion (EUR 50 million) have been issued in the DRS. Between 10pc and 15pc of return refunds are transferred directly to consumers’ bank accounts. The DRS application has been downloaded more than 1 million times.

Read also:

• Deposit refund system – New era in Hungarian stores: Bottle redemption system takes off
• Bottle redemption system in Hungary did not kick off as smoothly as expected