Since 1 October 2025, regular buying in Poland will change beyond recognition. A nationwide bailout strategy enters into force, which introduces a fresh mandatory fee for most drinks. all Pole who buys water in plastic, canned soda or beer in a glass bottle will gotta pay extra bail. It is simply a revolution that aims to drastically increase recycling levels, but at the same time represents a immense challenge for home budgets and logistics stores. president Andrzej Duda, signing an amendment to the Act in December 2024, gave Poles and companies an additional 9 months to prepare for changes that will affect absolutely everyone. The system, which is already very emotional, is intended to respond to the increasing pressures of the European Union and the problem of waste.
How precisely will the bail strategy work and how much will we pay?
The rules of the fresh strategy are simple, but their implementation will affect all receipt. Since 1 October 2025 deposit will be added to the price of drinks in selected packages. Its amount has been fixed at:
- 50 cents for disposable plastic bottles up to 3 litres,
- 50 cents for metallic cans of a capacity up to 1 litre,
- 1 gold for glass multi-use bottles of up to 1.5 litres.
This means that we will pay 3 gold more for the mineral water, and an additional 3 gold for a six-pack of canned drinks. This money will be recoverable, but only if the empty, undamaged packaging is returned to a peculiar collection point. The main nonsubjective of this revolution is to increase the level of recycling in Poland from the current 53% to EU level 77% in the first year of operation of the system. By 2029, this rate is expected to scope 90%.
Money frozen in bottles. Hidden Cost for Polish Families
The biggest and most noticeable effect for an average household will be the request to “freeze” money in the form of bail. For example, a household buying 10 bottles of drinks a week will gotta spend additional PLN 5 per week, which is 20 PLN per month. On a yearly basis it is already 240 PLN, which stay “freezing” until the return of packages.
The problem is that not everyone will systematically and meticulously return each bottle. Experience from another countries shows that part of the bail never returns to consumers. This money will contribute to the strategy operators' budget, which in practice means hidden increase in drinks prices for persons little disciplined or not having easy access to points of return. This can be peculiarly severe for residents of smaller towns, where the network of recyclomats and collection points will be much rarer than in large cities.
Million investments and a large challenge for shops
The bailout strategy is besides a gigantic logistics and financial operation for Polish trade. All shops with a surface area above 200 square meters will be required participate in the strategy and receive empty packages. This means that the largest networks, specified as Ladybug, Lidl or Carrefour, must invest in thousands of peculiar return machines, the alleged RVM (Reverse Vending Machines). The cost of 1 specified device is even PLN 80 1000 gross.
Some networks, like Carrefour, have been moving pilot programs since 2022, investigating different solutions. A frog, with a network of more than 10 500 stores, is besides preparing for implementation, planning the installation of vending machines in selected locations. However, the real challenge faces the owners of small, residential shops. For them, participation in the strategy will be voluntary, but resignation may mean losing customers who like to store where they can immediately return the bottles and recover bail.
New habits in all house. How to prepare for changes?
The bail revolution will force Poles to change their regular habits. The most crucial novelty will be the request to collect empty packages at home. Importantly, bottles and cans cannot be crushedand barcode labels must stay intact so that the device can identify them. This means that additional retention space is needed.
Research shows that 42% of consumers plan to return packaging erstwhile a weekand 31% even respective times a week. This in turn means planning visits to stores not only for purchases, but besides for return of packages. In the first months of operation of the system, queues for recyclomats should be expected. It is besides an excellent chance to educate the youngest and teach them that the packaging after the drink has real monetary value and should not go to the usual basket.
Poland is chasing Europe. Will we repeat Germany's success?
Although the bailout strategy is simply a novelty in Poland, it has been successfully operating in Europe for years. The best example is Germany, where the strategy was introduced in 2003. present our western neighbors scope impressive level of recycling of PET bottles at 94%. The bail of 25 cents (about PLN 1.05) proved to be an effective motivation.
Other countries besides show how much possible there is in this solution. Lithuania increased its collection rate from 34% to 92% in just 2 years. The Netherlands reduced the amount of garbage from tiny bottles by 63%. The strategy is not only ecological, but it can besides be self-sufficient – in Denmark in 2023 100% financed itself. For Poland, which, with a recycling level of 53%, is threatened by EU penalties of up to PLN 2 billion per year, this is the only way to join the European top and to guarantee the clean environment.
Continued here:
New bottle taxation in 2025. Poles will pay 50 grams for each beverage
