Turkey rolls out nationwide Deposit Return System starting 1st January 2025!
by Alena Zein at 11:00 in Circular Economy, Packaging, Emerging
Turkey is making significant strides toward environmental sustainability by implementing a nationwide Deposit Return System (DRS), locally known as the Deposit Management System (DYS). This initiative plays a crucial role in Turkey's Zero Waste Project, aiming to boost recycling rates and foster environmental awareness among its citizens.
Although the DRS was previously introduced in Turkey, its full-scale implementation in 2025 will extend to every province and district, ensuring nationwide coverage. As a result, all beverage producers and sellers will be required to participate.
Overview of the Deposit Return System in Turkey
The Deposit Management System helps reduce pollution by ensuring proper collection of packaging waste through a deposit fee applied to each beverage container. This fee is refunded when consumers return empty containers to designated machine or collection points.
Consumers will be able to recycleglass, plastic, and aluminium beverage container receiving a refund for each returned container, which can be used for shopping.
Turkey's mandatory DRS aims to recycle approximately 20 billion single-use packages annually. Managed by the Turkish Environment Agency, the system is designed to minimize environmental impact, prevent pollution, and promote sustainability.
Obligations and responsibilities under the DRS system
Packaging manufacturers and importers are subject to the system's requirements:
Registration and labelling: Manufacturers must register their products via dbys.gov.tr and they must ensure that beverage containers are clearly labelled with a special barcode and the DRS logo on glass, PET, and aluminium beverage containers.
Compliance with Environmental Regulations:Manufacturers are required to comply with the procedures and principles of the mandatory deposit management system to meet DRS regulations. This involves registering the system on dbys.gov.tr, selecting an authorized label and packaging manufacturer from the Label-Packaging Manufacturers (Eticket-Ambalaj Ureticileri) screen, obtaining approval from the Packaging Approval Center, and ensuring that, once the new labels are approved, they are applied to products. Additionally, before selling the products, the producer must pay a deposit fee to TUCA (Turkish Environment Agency).
Reporting Obligations: Manufacturers must keep records of the quantities of beverage containers placed on the market. TUCA will oversee compliance through monitoring and inspections.
By meeting these requirements, manufacturers support Turkey's Zero Waste initiatives, helping to improve recycling efforts and reduce environmental pollution.
Which packages will be paid as a deposit?
Single-use packages ranging from 0.1L to 3L made of glass, plastic, and aluminium, are included in the mandatory deposit system. This applies to products such as soft drinks, drinking and spring water, natural mineral water, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beers, wines, energy drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices. A deposit fee which is 0.25 TRY will be charged for these packages and customers will be able to get this amount back by returning the empty packages to collection points or reverse vending machines located in various public spaces, such as supermarkets or recycling centres. Once the container is returned, the system automatically processes the refund. For reverse vending machines, consumers can either receive a cash refund or a voucher for future purchases at participating stores.
If you're wondering how this will impact your business, feel free to reach out to us today. We're here to help you navigate the details and ensure your compliance with Turkey's DRS.
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