![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/A-recycling-depot-operated-by-RetuRO-Romanias-plastic-return-system-organizer-credit-Eduard-VoicuRet.jpeg\")
A recycling depot operated by RetuRO, Romania\u2019s plastic return system organizer \u2013 credit Eduard Voicu \/ RetuRO<\/p>\n A recycling depot operated by RetuRO, Romania\u2019s plastic return system organizer \u2013 credit Eduard Voicu \/ RetuRO<\/p>\n
If you had to guess where in the EU you would find the most sophisticated and effective recycling system for beverage containers, how long before you\u2019d say Romania?<\/p>\n
Beating out Scandinavia, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, the Romanian government\u2019s private-public partnership with the logistics firm RetuRO, has led to an incredible 94% collection rate of plastic, glass, and metal containers in just two years.<\/p>\n
The method is simple, but a RetuRO executive said that its secret to success comes from the fact that there was no existing recycling system already working that had to be overwritten: it was a fresh idea.<\/p>\n
Fresh, but not new. Each retailer that sells products which come in recyclable containers are given a tax credit for the cost of installing return infrastructure like reverse vending machines<\/a> and other installations. Then, the customer, when they buy each item, are charged a deposit that is returned with a few cents extra when they return the items.<\/p>\n With all the extras, one Transylvanian woman was able to buy food for her cats for the whole week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the largest fully integrated deposit return system globally,\u201d said Gemma Webb, the chief executive of RetuRO, the company running the system in a public-private partnership.<\/p>\n Even though product return rates are as high as 94% in some months, those products as a proportion of the country\u2019s total recyclable waste remains small; less than 15%. As far as that is from seeing the recyclability of all waste, it\u2019s still awfully far from where the country has come.<\/p>\n RECYCLE THIS NEWS: <\/strong><\/p>\n Between 2011 and 2021, recycling rates for plastic, glass, and metal beverage containers hovered around 11-12%, and rarely changed. Only 1% of all materials recycled or thrown away eventually made it back into the economy, according to the Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n