Donald Tusk announces a new date. “We got eleven months.”

At the end of October this year. prime minister Donald Tusk announced that the law implementing the deposit system will come into force on October 1, 2025, and not – as previously assumed by the Ministry of Climate – on January 1, 2025. He added that the government needs more time to properly prepare the implementation of this system.

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– We have been given another 11 months to prepare. In total, it will be two years since the act on the deposit system was introduced. Therefore, it seems to me that this is a worthy, compromise solution – said Anna Sapota, vice-president of public affairs for North-Eastern Europe in the TOMRA Group, during a discussion on changing the start date of the deposit system at the Food Market and Trade Forum.

She recalled that many stakeholders insisted on extending the deadline. She explained that in order to engage the consumer, who is a key element of this system, it must be convenient for them.

– We need time for retail chains, producers and operators to prepare this system. (…) This October next year seems to be a compromise solution that is realistic (…) – added Anna Sapota.

However, she admitted that the system would not be 100% ready from the day of launch. – The experience we have from other markets shows that the first 2-3 years are still a period of development of this system, adapting from the operational side, from the infrastructure side, from the side of developing new consumer habits – said Sapota.

A similar position on shifting the system was taken by Andrzej Gantner, vice-president of the Polish Federation of Food Producers and Employers' Union, who also took part in the discussion. – In 2023, when the act was being processed, we said clearly: the realistic, optimistic deadline is January 1, 2026. (…) A situation in which (…) an important date changes every now and then, causes serious confusion and unnecessary waste of time, costs and energy. (…) We are not ready today. (…) Will we be (ready – ed.) for October? It all depends on (…) whether we introduce amendments to this act – said Gantner.

– All these regulations should be implemented before the end of this year, perhaps then there will be some time for some amendments during the next nine months – he added.

However, the vice-president of the National Deposit System Zwrotka SA, Krzysztof Hornicki, informed that postponing the deadline would create problems for operators. – For us personally – as an operator that is ready for January 1 – it is clear that this postponement simply means financial costs; related to maintaining the team, the IT system, and all other processes that we have started and which were also planned for January 1. (…) It is a kind of compromise, but we look at it as changing the rules at the end of the match – he said.

Hornicki noted that the Ministry of Climate had been announcing for many months that the deposit system would enter into force on January 1, 2025, which is why “all these processes were prepared for this date.” He recalled that, according to recent announcements by the ministry, the launch of the system was to be postponed by half a year, but later this date was set for October 1. He added that operators are afraid that the current date may change again in the future.

– Participants, whether those who place drinks on the market or trade entities, are not sure about this legislation. We operate in an unstable legal environment and this is very difficult running a business (…). On the other hand, of course, we understand that some stakeholders are not prepared or need more time, said Hornicki.

According to the current Act on packaging and packaging waste management, the deposit system in Poland was to start operating from the beginning of 2025. Its goal is to reduce the amount of mixed municipal waste collected by municipalities and increase the level of recycling.

Large stores with an area of ​​over 200 sq m will have to collect empty packaging and return the deposit. Smaller stores, on the other hand, will collect a deposit, but joining the packaging collection system will be voluntary.

Unclaimed deposit will be used to finance the deposit system. The deposit is intended to encourage the return of packaging and increase the amount of reused and processed raw materials used to produce packaging. The system is to cover three types of packaging: plastic bottles up to 3 liters, reusable glass bottles up to 1.5 liters and metal cans up to 1 liter.

Work on the bail law lasted several years. Ultimately, the regulations on this matter were adopted by the parliament and signed by the president in 2023. However, some of the industry, stakeholders of the deposit system, pointed out that the regulations were full of holes and needed to be supplemented with key elements.

After the parliamentary elections, the new management of the Ministry of Climate and Environment announced consultations with the industry, which resulted in the publication in April this year. a draft amendment to the regulations on the deposit system, which met some of their demands. However, there was no mention of postponing the launch of the system, which was requested by, among others, representatives of the beverage industry.