Shops taking part in the initiative will display a green label at the entrance: customers will be able to return water and beer bottles and get their deposit back.
When we finish a glass bottle of water or beer bought at a bar or a grocery shop, we can return it and get "the deposit" back. The decree from the Ministry of the Environment, which entered into force on 10 October, represents at once a step forward towards a recycling and reuse economy, and a step back in time, to those 1980s when the practice of the deposit return scheme was still in use in Italy.
A logo displayed at the entrance distinguishes a bar, restaurant, hotel or other point of consumption that has chosen to take part in the pilot phase of the scheme. The measure is part of the "collegato ambientale" aimed at preventing single-use packaging waste through the introduction, on a voluntary basis for one year, of a system for returning reusable bottles.
The aim of the deposit return scheme is to raise consumer awareness of the importance of reuse and recycling and to reduce waste production: the same containers — sturdier bottles made of glass, plastic or other materials — will be able to be reused more than ten times before becoming waste. The rules apply to containers with a volume of between 0.20 and 1.5 litres. Deposits will range from 5 to 30 euro cents. Another purpose of the decree, through the monitoring system envisaged, is to assess the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of the deposit return scheme, in order to determine whether the practice should be confirmed and, if appropriate, extended to other types of product and other consumption categories at the end of the trial period.
According to Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti, "a country as oriented towards the circular economy as Italy cannot but look with interest at a practice like the deposit return scheme, which is already successfully widespread in other countries. This decree," Galletti adds, "gives consumers and businesses an opportunity to discover a good practice that helps the environment, produces less waste and saves money." Also pleased is Stefano Vignaroli, a representative of the Movimento 5 Stelle who had promoted the initiative, and who stressed that "users won't have to do anything, other than make sure that the shop they choose is taking part in the initiative." In a year's time we will see what results the pilot scheme has produced.