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Recycling Renaissance: How Deposit Return Schemes Could Transform Athens' Waste Management

Writer's picture: Arch Policy InstituteArch Policy Institute

Hi everyone! My name is Elle Moss, and I am a second year Environmental Economics and Management Major. I am also a co-lead for the Sustainability Policy Center. 


Like many of you, I grew up learning the importance of recycling. Despite this early education, I must admit that I sometimes struggle to put those lessons into practice. With over 62 million Americans self-reporting that they recycle “some of the time, at best”,  this is not a unique challenge. Specifically, Georgia loses one million tons of recyclable materials a year to trash.


Foregoing recycling brings about several consequences, mainly associated with an increase in waste sent to landfills. Municipal landfills are the third largest source for human-related methane emissions which directly accelerate climate change by contributing to the greenhouse effect. An increase of waste amplifies the release of landfill gas that negatively impacts the environment. Moreover,  it is not unheard of for landfills to leak. When leachate, a contaminated liquid, escapes through the liners of landfills, toxins are released into nearby groundwater supplies. As waste sent to landfills increases, these landfills face a harsher stress and a higher chance of leakage. Furthermore, an increase in waste production has decreased the lifespan for many landfills. If trash is continued to be received at the current rate, the Athens Landfill will reach capacity in 37 years.


In cities like Athens, transient populations exacerbate the waste produced through their presence at high-attendance events, such as football games. In fact, Denise Plemmons, waste reduction coordinator for the Athens-Clarke County Recycling Division, reports that the landfill receives an additional 35-40 tons of trash after home football games. While recycling bins are prevalent on campus and in the stadium, the actual diversion rate for recycling at football games is only between two to seven percent. 


Since recycling bins are readily available but still underused, the issue lies in how to encourage the consumer to recycle. One way that Athens can promote consumers to recycle and reduce landfill waste is through Deposit Return Schemes (DRS). Deposit return schemes are programs in which consumers pay a deposit when they purchase an item, usually a beverage container, and receive a refund when they return the item for recycling, making it a practical and effective solution.


DRS works by incentivizing the consumer to recycle. Collection points are set up in various commonly visited locations, such as grocery stores, to make depositing recyclable items easier for consumers. Producers, retailers, recycling companies, and the government negotiate the price consumers receive upon returning an item Since the many parties collaborate to negotiate the price, the return of the recyclable goods is mutually beneficial for both the consumer, producer, and implementing body. Additionally, this system mitigates waste and promotes recycling.


While DRS isn't currently available in Athens, it has found great success in other areas of the globe. For example, Germany implemented a DRS system in 2003. Since then, the country has achieved a collection rate of 98% of recyclable materials. Of the European countries that currently implement a DRS, Estonia has the lowest return rate of 82.7%, a value still much higher than recycling rates in the US. With return rates as high as these, it is not surprising that the European Union has set a requirement for all member states to adopt a DRS by 2025.


Implementing a DRS in Athens, specifically in Sanford Stadium, has the potential to provide numerous benefits outside of compensating consumers. Currently, fans often throw their trash in recycling bins once trash cans begin to fill up. This contaminates the recyclable materials and makes it hard for the materials to be sent off to recycling facilities. A DRS would work to eliminate this issue, as fans would be able to return drink containers to its designated location, ensuring that they reached a proper recycling facility. A DRS would also work to reduce littering in the stadium seats, which would decrease clean up time and workload for stadium staff. 


Nevertheless, a DRS is not without its faults. Particularly, the lack of interest in participating in a DRS can negatively affect the success rate. As fans usually accept high prices for stadium refreshments anyway, we do not know how a refund will actually impact them. Fans may also find returning containers an inconvenience, and therefore neglect participating in the scheme. To combat these challenges, authorities would need to implement an enforcement mechanism. However, an enforcement mechanism brings about its own problems like cost, jurisdiction, and consequences. Regardless, if these barriers are addressed during early implementation stages, a DRS has the potential to be very beneficial.  


As Athens and the University of Georgia grow, addressing the city's trash problem is crucial. Without action, the community will soon face a nearly full landfill. Implementing a Deposit Return Scheme will help combat waste in Athens' most populated venues. Compensating consumers acts as a more effective measure than voluntary actions since consumer behaviors respond to incentives. This theory suggests that DRS can be highly successful for Athens as it starts its waste reduction journey, helping to create a more sustainable environment for the city's growing population and university community.






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