France has decided against introducing a mandatory national deposit return scheme (DRS) for plastics beverage bottles, instead recommending voluntary schemes operated by towns and cities.
The decision follows a three-month consultation involving local authorities, plastics bottle and recycling businesses, and other stakeholders. France’s Ministry of Ecological Transition confirmed a mandatory system would not be introduced.
Local authorities have raised concerns that DRS infrastructure could undermine existing municipal recycling schemes. These systems receive revenue from collecting and sorting plastics bottles and aluminium cans, with concerns that losing these materials could create funding shortfalls.
There are also concerns about the practicalities of introducing automated collection points, which would need to be installed in locations such as supermarkets and across urban and rural communities.
Kerbside collection
Some stakeholders have argued that improving existing yellow bin and kerbside collection schemes could deliver better recycling results.
Thomas Tharaldsen, country chair Norway at Viridor, said the decision was not necessarily a retreat from recycling.
“Even if France just dropped the idea of a mandatory national deposit system for plastics bottles, this is less a retreat from recycling than a fight over who controls the material, who pays for collection, and who captures the value of rPET,” he said.
Tharaldsen said France currently collects 58 per cent of its plastics beverage bottles each year. He also pointed to the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive target of 90 per cent separate collection for single-use plastics beverage bottles by 2029. “The problem hasn’t gone away,” he added.
France is instead taking a territorial approach, focusing on areas where collection performance is poor, according to Tharaldsen.
Political resistance
He added that political resistance to a mandatory system had largely come from local authorities and waste operators. They argue that municipalities have already invested heavily in collection and sorting infrastructure and could lose valuable PET streams and associated revenues if bottles move into a separate DRS.
The decision comes as EU member states prepare to meet requirements under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
The regulation requires member states to establish fully operational national DRSs for single-use plastics beverage bottles and metal beverage containers of up to 3 litres by 1 January 2029.
By the same deadline, the systems must achieve a separate collection rate of at least 90 per cent per year by weight.
The PPWR also requires DRSs to allocate a minimum share of their budgets to financing nationwide reduction and prevention efforts.
Exclusions and exemptions
The regulation does not set a specific deposit charge. It excludes packaging for wine, aromatised wine products, spirits, milk and milk-based products from the DRS requirements.
Member states can seek exemptions for certain packaging formats if they can demonstrate that the format achieves a separate collection rate of more than 90 per cent by weight within the first two years after the regulation enters into force.
They can also request an exemption at least 24 months before the 2029 deadline, provided they submit an alternative strategy setting out concrete actions.
The decision also contrasts with the UK’s approach to DRS. The UK scheme is due to launch in October 2027, with producers expected to pay no producer fees during its first 15 months, before charges are introduced from January 2029.
The producer fee is currently expected to be 2.3p per PET container and 0.6p for aluminium and steel containers. The fees will be reviewed and reconfirmed before the scheme launches.
