A quarter of all our litter, by volume, in Aotearoa, is discarded drink containers, polluting our rivers, roadsides, parks and beaches 1.

New international comparison research shows New Zealand could halve that litter, fast with a Container Deposit Return Scheme, like 58 countries and states have already done 2. Across the world, the Reloop research shows, countries with Container Deposit Return Schemes have reduced their litter by more than half, on average.

A well-designed scheme, like the 5.5 million people in Slovakia enjoy, might cut our littered drink bottles, cans and cartons by as much as 75% - and massively increase the proportion of drink containers that get recycled from 54% to over 85%.

Slovakia introduced a Container Deposit Return Scheme in January 2022 in which people can claim back a deposit of €0.15 (NZD$0.26) on each container they return. In Summer 2021, before the scheme, metal beverage cans and PET beverage bottles represented 10% and 11% of all litter collected in Slovakia, respectively (by count). By Summer 2023, just 18 months after launch, cans and PET bottles each made up only 2% of litter – down 78% and 72% 3.

Beverage containers make up over half of all food and drink packaging sold globally—and the waste is staggering. In 2024 alone, 1.3 trillion drinks were sold in PET, glass, or metal containers, worldwide. Locally, a whopping 2.6 billion drinks are sold in containers here in New Zealand each year.

Every day, about 4 million of those drink bottles, cans and cartons get landfilled or littered in Aotearoa. That's why they are such a common sight in our towns and along rural roads and why so many end up in our ocean.

The new 'Littered with evidence’ research from Reloop clearly shows Container Deposit Return Schemes dramatically reduce beverage container litter across diverse regions worldwide. The evidence in favour of the schemes’ effectiveness is consistent and overwhelming.

Countries and states with Container Deposit Return Schemes for beverage packaging see rapid and dramatic reductions in beverage container litter—in some cases cutting it by far more than half in just a few years.

"The development work for a New Zealand Container Deposit Return Scheme has already been done. The update to our waste and litter laws, proposed last month, paves the way by ensuring those who make or import packaging pay for how it’s handled. All we need now is the ambition from our MPs to modernise how we reduce waste and litter and catch us up with the rest of the world," says Sue Coutts of Zero Waste Aotearoa.

All our parks, streets and beaches look better with less litter. Litter-free places are safer for children and wildlife. Less plastic litter means less plastic in our oceans and less micro-plastics everywhere.

As well as dramatic cuts in litter, it's also been shown Container Deposit Return Schemes improve the quality of recycling, making more high-quality recycled material available. Making new drink containers from recycled materials produces less greenhouse gas emissions than making containers from virgin plastic, glass or aluminium. When companies avoid using raw materials, they help reduce pollution and other environmental harm, such as mining.

Surveys show 80% of New Zealanders want a Container Deposit Return Scheme here. Many fondly remember returning bottles to claim deposits in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Where the previous Government fell short, this Government has an opportunity to implement a popular and tangible, low-cost policy," says Sue Coutts of Zero Waste Aotearoa.

Note:

1 Keep NZ Beautiful National Litter Audit 2019 - Total beverage containers found in litter 4,956 units / 106.98 kg.

2 Littered with evidence: Proof that deposit return systems work, Reloop, June 2025 - Global average litter reduction of 57% for countries with Container Deposit Return Schemes.

3 Before and after: How deposit return systems cut beverage container litter, Reloop, April 2024

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