Price of bottled and canned products in shops won't include deposit sum

The system for returning PET bottles and cans was officially launched at the start of 2022. Consumers now have to pay a deposit of 15 cents for each bottle or can. However, the price of bottled and canned products in stores will be listed without the 15-cent deposit and the sum will be charged to customers at the checkout. The head of the relations and communications department for the system, Lucia Morvai, explained on Monday that there will be a transitional period until June 2022, during which people will sometimes encounter beverage containers that aren't marked with the symbol indicating that a container is subject to the deposit system – a capital letter ‘Z’ encircled by two rounded arrows. According to Morvai, it will not be possible to return the unmarked bottles, and consumers are meant to dispose of them by placing them in yellow recycling bins. In addition, the machines for automatically receiving containers and returning deposits will accept only undamaged and uncrumpled bottles and cans. In the event a container is rejected, the consumer should place it in a recycling bin. The administrator of the system recommends returning PET bottles with their caps on, but there’s no obligation to do so. Currently, there are more than 2,000 locations with these machines across the country, with their number expected to grow this year.