Eunomia was commissioned by the King County Responsible Recycling Task Force (Washington State) to carry out a three-phase study to contribute to the development of a feasible model for a beverage container deposit system.
The Phase I study provided an inventory of existing container deposit systems across the world based on a set of criteria most applicable to Washington State. These included:
- Systems financed/operated/overseen by third party organizations or packaging and paper product producers.
- Systems that include return mechanisms other than drop off at retail/grocery stores.
- Systems that work in tandem with EPR systems for residential packaging and paper products.
- Systems operating in jurisdictions with kerbside recycling programs similar to those in Washington State.<
Six systems were judged most applicable to Washington – Oregon, Maine, British Columbia, Alberta, Norway and Germany – and have been reviewed against a set of key system principles, covering:
- Effectiveness
- Management, Oversight and Governance
- Financing
