Economic–Environmental Performance of Reverse Logistics of Disposable Beverage Packaging

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide analysis and description of deposit and recycling system of disposable beverage packaging, which started in the Slovak Republic in 2022. The article provides the review of relevant literature with a focus on circular economy and Deposit Refund System (DRS), where analysis of refund systems was performed for this work. The proposed model involving reverse logistics describes how such deposit and collection system can work in practice, highlighting potential disadvantages, mainly the high investment costs. Therefore, the article also includes a financial analysis exploring potential cost of establishing said deposit and collection system. The number of necessary collection point for Slovakia has been determined and the total investment costs for the vending machines installations and service in Slovakia has been calculated.