Polish brewers warn deposit fees add nearly a billion zlotys, demand law overhaul
A Deloitte report shows Poland's deposit charges for PET bottles and metal cans are far above the European average, costing the industry and consumers up to a billion zlotys annually, prompting brewers to call for urgent legal changes.
A Deloitte analysis titled “System kaucyjny 2026 - rok po starcie”, prepared for the Związek Pracodawców Przemysłu Piwowarskiego, reveals that Poland’s deposit fee for a single-use PET bottle is about 1.7 times the regional average and that for a metal can is roughly 7.3 times higher. The Związek Browary Polskie estimates the excess could amount to almost a billion zlotys per year, making Polish consumers pay nearly twice the amount of their Romanian or Slovak counterparts.
Its president, Mieszko Musiał, stresses that while the deposit system itself is necessary, one outlet model imposes disproportionate costs on producers and shoppers. The association blames fragmented logistics, separate IT and administrative structures among operators, and insufficient state oversight for inflating expenses. It proposes specific reforms: aligning collection and settlement fees with real costs, separating accounting for cans and PET bottles, improving transparency, and allowing producers to run their own reusable-packaging schemes. The industry hopes these changes will achieve environmental goals more efficiently and at lower cost.
Why it matters
High deposit fees raise prices for Polish consumers and producers, pressuring policymakers to reform the recycling system.
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