A Polish bottle machine that will return funds to your account without using a payment card is being developed in Poznań. Currently, Łukasiewicz – Poznan Institute of Technology and the company Clean Poland are looking for entities to test the device. The pilot is expected to take place this summer.

Next year, a deposit system will come into force in Poland. All shops with an area of more than 200 square metres will be obliged to accept used bottles and cans. Smaller stores may join the system, but do not have to.

The experience of European countries which have already introduced a deposit system shows that the turnover of shops which do not join the deposit system may fall by up to 30 %. “Customers usually do their shopping in places where they can return the bottles or cans on the occasion and recover the deposit,” said Paweł Skwarczowski, commercialisation director at Clean Poland.

The recyclomat developed in Poznań is intended to be universal. It will be able to be programmed according to the customer’s wishes – whether it is a large chain of shops or several smaller shops located in a smaller town. It will offer all options for refunding customers the deposit paid at the time of purchase – from returning it to the payment card to the traditional receipt with which the customer goes to the shop checkout. A new and unique solution will enable to return money to an account without the need to provide an account number or carry a card. This is an innovative solution developed by Łukasiewicz-Poznański Institute of Technology.

“We are creating an algorithm that will allow us to encode any bank account number with just a few words. It will work in such a way that when you return the bottle at the recycling machine, all you have to do is say, for example, a sequence of three specific words and the deposit will automatically be credited to your account, without you having to enter any other data or, for example, hold up your card or phone. 

The deposit system, which will come into force on 1 January 2025, will include plastic bottles up to 3 litres, glass bottles up to 1.5 litres and metal cans up to 1 litre. When buying such packaging, the customer will pay a surcharge of 50 gr. The money will be refunded to him when he returns the bottle or can at the collection point.