The introduction of a deposit system in shops is underway in Poland.  According to the ARC Market and Opinion, 88% of respondents like the idea. Only 6% of respondents were against it.

According to Adam Czarnecki of ARC Rynek i Opinia, the survey shows that the launch of a deposit system in Poland will be encouraging for consumers and that the motivations for using it may differ between age categories.

“For the older generation, it is not new, as they remember the deposit system from the communist era, while for the younger generation, environmental issues may be the motivation”, Czarnecki explained.

Some respondents will make the use of the deposit system dependent on two factors – the place where the packaging is returned and cost-effectiveness.  The preferred form of returning packaging is vending machines – 48% of respondents would choose this option. Almost one in four respondents (23%) would be happy to return the packaging to a shop, and for one in five (18%) the place does not matter.

“On average, 3% of respondents believe that nothing and no one would force them to return packaging to a shop – for young people (18 to 24 years old) this percentage is 7%, and 6% of Poles are concerned that they would not have the time to do so.

According to the survey, for 69% of respondents, the amount of PLN 0.40 for a 1.5-litre plastic water bottle is already encouraging. As the amount increases, the percentage of people interested in the system grows PLN 0.5 – 79%, PLN 0.6 – 81% and PLN 0.7 – 83%. According to Czarnecki, increasing the deposit makes the product itself more expensive, so maximising the amount is not entirely beneficial.

The survey was conducted in June using the CAWI method – online surveys – on a sample of 1,048 Poles aged 18-65. The sample was representative in terms of gender, age, size of place of residence, education and region.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński