Bottle deposits and the pit of success

I’m in Berlin this week, and one thing I want to write about is bottle deposits.

See, in Germany when you buy bottled drinks, a deposit price is applied on top. By returning said bottle, you get your deposit back. Usually it is around 0.25€ for a small bottle, which is not nothing. This deposit applies to glass bottles, as well as plastic ones. Even thin plastic bottles of chocolate milk - all are covered by the same deposit.

In turn, each grocery store contains a bottle collection machine. It will scan the barcode on the bottle and print you a voucher that can be spent here in the shop. Possibly, for buying more bottled drinks.

I like a concept of a Pit of Success a lot, and this is clearly a one. There are plenty of things that you can complain about in a modern Berlin, but the bottle deposit scheme is clearly one of the massive successes. And sure, a bunch of other countries have the exact same scheme - Finland included. But it truly becomes a pit of success in huge cities like Berlin.

The problem with the large cities is often that lots of people consuming lots of products, and then discarding the garbage in appropriate and less appropriate places. If we are talking glass, it is easily shattered, accidentally or otherwise.

What I see in Berlin though is quite the opposite. There is very little garbage on the streets. All bottles are carefully collected everywhere. People are looking for left over bottles to collect and return them. No one breaks glass bottles.

In fact, empty bottles become almost a separate currency here.

If you are having a deliciour kebab with a drink, which is likely bottled - you can tip the place by giving them the bottle back. I’ve seen this happening while wondering what’s the best way to utilise my own bottle.

If you are attending an event, you can fund charities with your empty bottles by depositing them in the bin of a charity of your choice.

You can also help people in need on the streets by letting them return your empty shell of a drink.

We’ve been debating, piloting and rolling back the deposit scheme in Scotland for years now - and I think the missed point here is not the initial cost, neither the cost of the deposit that everyone will have to start paying. The point is that you create a pit of success - for less garbage on the streets, for people getting a reason to look after their cities. Of course you also get all the benefits of recycling, much less discarded plastic and better, more durable materials used in bottles.

So hey, London, you are missing out!