BCRS reaches 100 million beverage container mark

Consumers have successfully deposited 100 million beverage containers using the Beverage Container Refund Scheme.

“This milestone was reached today when the 100-millionth container was deposited, making this scheme a success story in Malta, which is the only country in the Mediterranean to have introduced such a deposit return scheme,” the company said in a statement.

June was also the month in which the largest number of containers were collected in one day, with 768,000 bottles on Saturday, June 24

“Since January, the collection rate has steadily remained at around 74 per cent. We are pleased to see that the majority of people have embraced this new practice of recycling,” a spokesperson said.

The average daily collection of beverage containers is now at 675,000, with BCRS saying the projected target of 70% of containers placed on the market by end 2023, is well on track.

The scheme, is a modern-day reincarnation of a similar one that used to exist on re-usable glass bottles up until the early 2000s, and is intended to minimise waste.

Consumers are able to deposit the empty containers in reverse vending machines installed around the island to obtain a refund in the form of a voucher.

More machines awaiting permit

BCRS said this is the first summer BCRS is operating, and in order to anticipate spikes in beverage sales, it has rolled out large scale reverse vending machines.

Five such high-capacity machine depots are already up and running: at the BCRS Clearing Centre in Ħal Far, Luxol’s Park-and-Ride in Pembroke, the Marsa Industrial Park, the former

Belleview area in Mellieħa and the San Gwann Industrial Park. A further two will be switched on in the coming days at the Bulebel Industrial Park in Zejtun, the Xewkija Industrial Park in Gozo.

The last three of 10 large scale hubs are awaiting permits from the authorities and will be installed in the coming weeks.

These 10 hubs include high-capacity machines that can take 9,000 plastic containers, allowing consumers the convenience of depositing their plastic bottles all at once.

These high-capacity machines only accept plastic beverage containers, so single-feed reverse vending machines are also being installed on site to cater for glass, cans as well as plastic and will continue to be operational 24/7. The high-capacity machines are manned by a BCRS representative to guide consumers and are operational seven days a week, between 5am and 9pm.