Glass bottles outside the new system? Breweries show how to circumvent the regulations

Large breweries are looking for a way to bypass the new glass deposit system and stick to their own deposit system.

Carlsberg has found a way to exclude some of its packaging from the nationwide deposit system. Now Grupa Żywiec is waiting for a similar decision – reports “Rzeczpospolita”. Breweries,instead of fully entering the deposit system for reusable glass bottles,prefer to stay with the current deposit model and are looking for legal grounds for this.

Producers against the deposit system

As the daily reminds,beer producers have been opposed to the new rules for returnable bottles from the very beginning. However,their demands were not taken into account by the Ministry of Climate and Environment. Currently,there is a transitional period – the deposit system has been operating since October mainly for cans and PET bottles,while for reusable glass bottles it will become mandatory only from January 2026. Unless producers effectively use legal loopholes earlier,as the largest breweries are trying to do with the support of local governments.

The decision turned out to be crucial for Carlsberg Department of Environmental Charges of the Masovian Marshal’s Office of October 22. It stated that the company could be treated as “directly introducing products in beverage packaging”. The company declared that it would sell its drinks in bottles to retail chains and wholesalers,and then collect the empty bottles during subsequent deliveries. One of the key arguments was that Carlsberg is already recovering from the market using its own distribution channel 92-94 percent bottleswhich is more than the statutory level of 90%.

Large breweries outside the system

He is counting on a similar interpretation Żywiec Group. – We are waiting for the Silesian Marshal’s Office to issue an interpretation in this regard – Magdalena Brzezińska,director of corporate affairs at Grupa Żywiec,told “Rzeczpospolita”. The manufacturer,like Carlsberg,believes it can continue to operate its own deposit system,collecting its bottles itself as a “direct-packaged beverage marketer.”

In practice,this means that large breweries are trying remain outside the nationwide glass deposit systemreferring to existing regulations and bottle collection mechanisms developed so far. The dispute over how broadly the deposit system should operate and who should actually participate in it is entering the next phase – this time at the level of interpretation by marshal offices.