80% of Latvian residents regularly use the beverage packaging deposit system, which is nine percentage points more than last year, according to a survey by Depozīta sistēmas operators LLC (DIO).
The most important reason that motivates residents to use the deposit system, according to respondents, was the recovered deposit fee (61%), followed by less garbage in the environment (52%) and general care for the environment (39%).
The survey also shows that the beverage packaging deposit system is used by 94% of Latvian households.
The most common reason why households don’t use the deposit system is that there is no room to store empty packages (29%). Another 31% of respondents mentioned other reasons, including that households continue using packaging or it’s impossible to hand it over to the deposit system because the packaging is damaged.
68% of respondents also said that they carry empty bottles and other containers when they go to the store, and 22% of respondents accumulate a large number of containers before carrying them to a deposit point.
DIO board chairman Miks Stūrītis comments that the growth of the number of the deposit system users indicates a connection – the more the system operates and remains accessible to residents, the larger the number of residents that come to the conclusion that this system is useful and its use becomes a daily habit.
He predicts that the number of deposited containers may reach 390 million units this year (228 million last year).
DIO online survey was done in cooperation with Mozokot agency in October 2023. The survey was attended by 1 002 residents aged between 18 and 74.
BNN previously reported that Latvia adopted a beverage container deposit system in February 2022. The State Environment Service decided to entrust the system to DIO for a seven-year period.
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