Finns keen on recycling bottles

The system of deposits paid on returned packages has proven to be very successful in Finland. In 2008 the Finnish people returned 94 percent of the bottles and cans belonging to the system. The information was recovered from the National statistics and compiled by Pirkanmaa Environmental Centre. All of these beverage packages are re-used or recycled.

- From an international viewpoint, the Finnish deposit system on packages is top of the world. While the Finnish people recycle 90 percent of all aluminium cans, in West Europe the average is mere 60 percent. Other Nordic countries have a similarly functional recycling system for their bottles and cans. However, the further south in Europe, the smaller the recycling percentages, comments Pasi Nurminen, the managing director of Palpa, a company that administers the recycling of beverage packages and promotes recycling in Finland.

- In other parts of the world bottles and cans aren't recycled as efficiently. In the United States a deposit system for beverage packages is in its place only on the east and west coasts. We have also provided consultation for international delegations interested in establishing similar recycling schemes for instance in different parts of Asia, Nurminen continues.

From the beginning of 2008 disposable bottles, which are re-useable as raw material, were declared as tax free. This has introduced a whole new wave of single-use bottles, which are made of PET-plastic. These disposable bottles are re-used in making new plastic bottles as well as being turned into packaging material for the food industry.

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