Deposit return system in a small store without a machine: step-by-step implementation

Less than half of deposit return points in Poland are reverse vending machines, and a store up to 200 m² usually does not have to accept bottles. We show how to handle returns manually and when a machine starts to pay off.

Who this guide is for and what you will gain from it

This guide is written for owners and managers of stores with a sales area of up to 200 m²: neighborhood grocery stores, shops in smaller towns, and small franchise outlets. A separate chapter covers larger stores that have the full collection obligation.

After reading, you will know whether you have to accept packaging at all. You will calculate whether manual handling is enough or whether a machine is worth it. You will organize the return point, back room, staff training, and settlements with the operator. You can complete registration and the contract with the operator remotely, so the most time-consuming parts will be choosing the operator and preparing the back room.

The deposit return system has been operating in Poland since October 1, 2025. According to data from the Ministry of Climate and Environment (MKiŚ) presented on September 30, 2026, there are over 65.5 thousand return points in the country, of which 23.5 thousand are deposit machines. Machines handle around 90 percent of all returns. About 31 thousand points are small stores that joined the system voluntarily, which is nearly half of all points. Small stores are therefore not a niche in the system, even though most returns go through machines.

Table of contents:

1. Does your store have to accept packaging
2. Machine or manual handling: how to calculate profitability
3. How to join the system and choose an operator
4. How to organize a return point
5. How to store packaging and plan collections
6. How to train employees
7. Records and settlements with the operator
8. Typical mistakes
9. Store over 200 m²: what changes
10. What next

Does your store have to accept packaging

Start by measuring your sales area. The basis is Article 44 of the Act on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management. The threshold is “over 200 m².” A store with an area of exactly 200 m² is therefore considered small.

A small store has two obligations and one freedom:

• it must charge a deposit when selling beverages in packaging covered by the system,
• it must accept and refund deposits for reusable glass bottles up to 1.5 l if it sells such beverages,
• accepting PET bottles and cans is voluntary for it.

The system covers three types of packaging. The rates are set by the Regulation of the Minister of Climate and Environment of July 8, 2024, and are uniform throughout the country:

• plastic PET bottles up to 3 l: PLN 0.50,
• metal cans up to 1 l: PLN 0.50,
• reusable glass bottles up to 1.5 l: PLN 1.00.

The decision to accept PET and cans is therefore a business decision, not a legal one. An argument for joining comes from the Kaucja.pl operator report prepared after the system’s first year of operation. These are company data, so approach them cautiously. According to the report, 61 percent of respondents choose a store based on easier deposit returns, and 57 percent made additional purchases when returning containers. For a neighborhood store, returns can therefore attract foot traffic. The cost is staff labor and space in the back room.

Also take the legal context into account. On August 6, 2026, a group of 17 Confederation MPs submitted a bill to the Sejm to abolish the deposit return system. The bill does not yet have a print number, the first reading has not started, and the climate ministry criticized it. At the same time, MKiŚ is working on an amendment in the opposite direction: longer validity of deposit vouchers (at least three months) and expanding the system to additional packaging. At present, the rules for small stores have not changed. The debate is ongoing, so do not tie yourself to long-term commitments without checking the exit conditions in the contract.

Machine or manual handling: how to calculate profitability

Do not start with a machine supplier’s offer. Start with your own scale. Go through these steps:

1. Check in your sales system how many beverages in PET and cans you sell monthly.
2. Remember that the system is receipt-free: customers can return packaging bought elsewhere to you, so the number of returns does not have to match your sales.
3. Measure how much back-room space you can realistically allocate to bags with packaging.
4. Write down who on the team and during which hours can handle returns without blocking the checkout.
5. Compare the estimated volume with the thresholds described below.

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The operator pays the store the deposit that the store paid out to the customer, plus separate remuneration for handling the collection, the so-called handling fee. It is meant to cover staff labor and storage. The Act does not specify its amount, so each operator negotiates it in the contract. In one market account, the rate for automatic collection is about PLN 0.10 per PET bottle or can, and for manual collection about PLN 0.075 per PET bottle. Treat these figures as a reference point, not a price list.

Retailers quoted by Portal Spożywczy give thresholds below which collection does not pay off. These are aggregated accounts, not research results:

• about 1,000 packages per month to cover the ongoing costs of manual handling,
• about 2,000 packages per month when using a reverse vending machine,
• as many as 5,000 packages per month before the investment in a machine starts to pay back.

The same voices emphasize that remuneration of around PLN 0.10 per unit does not cover the costs of the system in a store, and that the return on a machine in extreme cases is measured in dozens of months or in years.

How much a machine costs in three models

Machine costs differ across sources because the market offers different device classes and financing models:

• Outright purchase: from about PLN 60,000 net, often PLN 60,000-100,000 per device, and in one supplier’s offer even about PLN 150,000. In addition, servicing, according to industry reports, averages about PLN 10,000 per year.
• Supplier subscription: in one company’s example, startup cost about PLN 4,999 and a monthly fee of PLN 1,599-2,399 net, with the supplier taking on the risk of breakdowns.
• Machine provided by the operator: OK Operator Kaucyjny offers a device with no charges for delivery, installation, subscription, or servicing. In return, the store receives lower remuneration: 3 grosz for each package accepted by the machine.

Let’s calculate this roughly based on the figures above. At 5,000 packages per month and a rate of PLN 0.10, the handling fee is about PLN 500. This will not cover a subscription fee of PLN 1,599 net. In the free-machine model, the store will receive about PLN 150, but with no fixed costs at all. At 1,000 packages and a manual rate of PLN 0.075, the remuneration is about PLN 75 per month. Compare this amount with the labor time that returns will take from your team.

Conclusion for a small business and for a large organization

In a one-person store or one with two or three people per shift, start with manual handling. If returns exceed several thousand units per month or the queue at the checkout starts discouraging customers, look at a machine provided by the operator first, and only then a subscription. Outright purchase mainly makes sense at the volumes of large stores.

A chain of small outlets, for example a franchise with several dozen locations, should calculate profitability for each store separately. Where returns are high, it is worth negotiating a no-cost machine model with the operator. In the remaining locations, keep manual collection.

Stores in other countries make similar decisions. A study by the British Association of Convenience Stores among 1,100 independent retailers showed that in the group of businesses with a concrete plan, 12 percent intended to accept packaging manually, while only 5 percent planned to buy a machine.

How to join the system and choose an operator

A store up to 200 m² that joins the system voluntarily signs a contract with one selected operator for a given packaging fraction. The retailer has the decisive voice in the choice. If no operator has approached you, you must find one yourself. Once you approach an operator, they cannot refuse to sign a contract.

1. Collect offers from at least two operators or register on a multi-operator platform, e.g. Kaucyjni.pl, which brings together several operators in one panel.
2. Compare the handling fee rate for manual and automatic collection.
3. Check the collection frequency and whether you can change it depending on the number of returns.
4. Prepare documents: ID card of the person representing the company or a document authorizing representation, and the company bank account number for deposit settlements.
5. Accept GDPR consents and consent to self-billing, i.e. invoices issued on your behalf by the operator.
6. Sign the contract electronically. The entire process takes place remotely, without paperwork, and the store does not pay an entry fee.

Screenshot: store registration panel on the operator’s platform, company data and bank account form.

Read the contract with five things in mind: conditions for collecting packaging, amounts and timing of payments, commissions, obligations of both parties, and training and technical support. If you are getting a machine, also check the conditions for its installation and maintenance.

How to organize a return point

You do not need a separate room. In many stores, space by the checkout or by the entrance to the back room is enough. The key thing is that returns should not block customers paying for purchases or the acceptance of deliveries.

1. Designate a return point next to the checkout, but outside the main queue, for example at the end of the counter.
2. If you also run a parcel pickup point, separate the two stations spatially.
3. Place a lockable container or a stand for the operator’s bag at the station.
4. Place a barcode scanner integrated with the operator’s system by the checkout.
5. Integrate the cash register with the deposit system so returns are correctly calculated and reported. Ask your cash register supplier and operator about this before launch.
6. Display a short instruction for customers at the station: what packaging you accept and in what condition.

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Screenshot: cash register screen during deposit refund registration, a negative item on the receipt.

Instructions for customers reduce the number of disputes at the checkout. Among customer complaints, recurring issues include out-of-service machines, the need to keep packaging uncrushed, and refusals to accept returns at the checkout. Clear information about the rules particularly limits the last of these problems.

How to store packaging and plan collections

Accepting a bottle takes a moment. Storing it afterward is more difficult. Empty PET bottles take up a lot of space and quickly fill a small back room. The operator provides special bags and seals with a unique barcode. After filling a bag:

1. Close the bag.
2. Apply the seal.
3. Scan the seal code with a scanner connected to the operator’s system.
4. Put the bag in the designated place in the back room.

The State Sanitary Inspection admitted in a response to WP Finanse that there are no detailed guidelines for storing returned packaging in stores, including those with mini-gastronomy. Therefore, the general principle for waste applies: closed, functional containers, regular removal from rooms with food, and such organization that the packaging does not become a source of contamination. According to the inspection, with closed containers, regular emptying, and a designated storage zone, storage should not threaten food safety.

Plan collection frequency together with organizing the station, not after the fact. In a statement for “My Company Polska,” Artur Wiśniewski, president of operator Eco Kaucja, recommends adjusting collection frequency to the actual number of returns. This is an operator’s opinion, but it follows from the simple calculation of space. Do it like this:

1. Calculate how many full bags fit in the designated space.
2. For the first two weeks, record how many bags you fill each day.
3. Arrange collection with the operator before you run out of space, leaving a margin for weekends and periods of increased sales.
4. After a month, verify the schedule and ask for a change if the back room is becoming overcrowded.

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How to train employees

With manual handling, the employee acts as the machine. They must quickly assess whether the packaging qualifies for return. Crushed, dirty, or unlabeled packaging may be rejected because it is not suitable for further processing.

Teach the team to check five things:

• the deposit mark, i.e. the symbol of two arrows arranged one below the other,
• the clearly visible deposit amount on the packaging, e.g. “PLN 0.50” or “PLN 1.00”,
• no crushing,
• a readable barcode,
• the presence of a label, and in bottles also the cap.

Also explain the payout rules to employees. A return does not require a receipt because the system is receipt-free, and packaging bought in another store is accepted under the same rules. You pay the deposit in cash or deduct it from current purchases. However, you cannot make the payout conditional on purchases: the customer has the right to receive the money.

Update the scope of duties in writing. Add packaging verification, deposit payout, keeping the collection zone clean, replacing and sealing bags. Designate on each shift the person responsible for the back room.

Records and settlements with the operator

Settlement is based on three elements: the cash register, seals, and invoices issued by the operator under self-billing.

1. Register every return in the cash register integrated with the operator’s system.
2. Scan every seal when closing a bag. Without the scan, the operator will not link the bag to your store.
3. Once a week, compare the total deposits paid out at the cash register with the amount the operator reimbursed you for the transferred bags.
4. Check incoming payments to the company account: deposit reimbursement and handling fee separately.
5. Pass self-billing invoices to the accountant on an ongoing basis.

Screenshot: operator panel with collection history and scanned seals.

Ask your accountant to check VAT changes. Since September 4, 2026, an amendment to the VAT Act clarifying the settlement of unreturned deposits has been in force, and further regulations enter into force on December 1, 2026 and January 1, 2027. Do not treat this as tax advice: determine the details of your case with your accountant or advisor.

Unreturned deposits are not the operator’s profit. The system is financed by fees from producers placing beverages on the market, sales of PET and aluminum raw material, and unreturned deposits, which in a non-profit model may be used only for maintaining and developing collection.

Typical mistakes

Most often, problems result from organization rather than from accepting bottles itself:

• joining without calculating back-room space and setting collection “by feel”,
• returns handled in the same queue as sales during peak hours,
• accepting crushed or unlabeled packaging that does not qualify for return,
• refusing cash payout and forcing a purchase,
• an unscanned seal and a bag that cannot be settled,
• buying a machine outright at a volume of a few hundred packages per month,
• overlooking the obligation for a store that sells returnable glass bottles to accept them.

Store over 200 m²: what changes

A store over 200 m² must charge and refund the deposit and collect all packaging covered by the system. It must also sign a contract with every operator that comes forward, so it does not choose just one partner. Above 2,000 m², there is also an obligation for selective waste collection at its own expense.

With a large number of returns, exclusively manual handling puts a heavy burden on the team and checkouts, so for a large organization the two key decisions are: the number of machines per store and the financing model. Compare purchase and service costs with a subscription and a no-cost offer over a period of several years. Also take into account that the handling fee for automatic collection may be higher than for manual collection.

What next

Disclaimer: we did not find a description of the experiences of a specific small store with manual deposit handling, and retailers’ opinions come from aggregated reports. Therefore, your own data from the first weeks are more important than market averages.

1. Measure the sales area and check whether you sell returnable glass bottles.
2. Calculate monthly sales of beverages in PET and cans.
3. Compare offers from at least two operators.
4. Prepare the station, containers, and back-room space.
5. Train the team on the five criteria for accepting packaging.
6. After three months, compare the number of returns with the profitability thresholds and decide whether to stick with manual handling.

According to an analysis by the DlaHandlu.pl portal, after the first intense year the system is entering an optimization phase, and full saturation will still take another two or three years. You can therefore change the model chosen at the start when the scale of returns or the regulations change.