Nowadays, various kinds of beer and beverages sold on the market have become people's daily consumer goods. Due to the great consumption, the recycling of its packaging (such as aluminum cans, polyethylene plastic bottles, etc.) has become a non-negligible social problem after use. If not handled properly, it will not only waste a lot of material resources and energy, but will also increase the retention of such items in the natural world, causing irreparable pollution to the living environment of human beings. In 1981, Sweden first tried a standardized and effective recycling mechanism from a used can, and in 1984, it was approved by the Parliament and officially implemented the recycling and margin system of cans, so that the can recycling rate in that year reached 63%, 1996. It has reached 92% in the current year and is currently at 86% (that is, a total of 900 million cans of canned beer or beverages registered on the margin system are registered each year, of which 86% is recovered and reused by this recycling mechanism), and is at the highest level in the world. Sweden's beverage packaging recycling mechanism is a model for the successful participation of beverage and beverage packaging manufacturing companies in environmental protection. It is effective and can provide reference for the reform of related industries in China.

First, the recycling of cans

1, the material basis

In 1955, Sweden introduced canned beer products into the domestic market. Since 1967, the nation’s beer industry has transitioned to the production of cans, resulting in sales of such packaged beer in Sweden in 1979. Half of the volume, and in 1981 achieved domestic production and supply of cans for packaging all types of beverages. Compared with bottled or paper-packed beverages, the development of the canned beer industry in Sweden has greatly stimulated the use of cans in other beverage industries (such as cola, fruit juices and alcohol soft drinks) due to the unique advantages of can-pack packaging. The cans recycling mechanism for the implementation of a uniform standard in Sweden has a material basis.

2, recycling and processing

Sweden's largest canned beverage sales point is the major food supermarkets, followed by sports food centers and sports fields, yacht clubs, large companies, tourism camps, coffee shops, restaurants, kiosks and other food sales. Any consumer can simply put the empty cans that have been used or deposited in his home into a dedicated recycling machine at the point of sale. The recycling machine will automatically identify the bar code information on the cans (EAN Code, the lower part of the bar code also includes inquiries. The registration number), for each recyclable can that has been registered in the RETURPACK company, returns a consumer certificate of 0.5 kro on the spot. For example, if a consumer puts 20 cans of registered cans into the recycling machine in order, they can immediately receive a voucher worth 10 kilograms (approximately RMB 11). Consumers can use this voucher to pay for the sales at this point of sale. Shopping expenses or redemption.
Each beverage sales point is responsible for collecting all aluminum can empty cans from their dedicated recycling machines and transporting them in special containers to the RETURPACK company's processing facility in Nook ping, where they are sorted, crushed and packaged. Accepted and registered by the breweries, RETURPACK company will return the deposits and processing fees paid by the seller to the consumer based on this registration. These packaged cans were sent to the smelting plant as raw materials and melted to make aluminum ingot materials (the energy consumed in this process only accounts for 5% of the same amount of aluminum ingot material produced from bauxite), which was then transported to the can manufacturing plant. It is reprocessed into cans and packaged products for beverage manufacturers to fill beverages and supply them to the market.

Nowadays, the recycling business of Swedish iron cans is managed by the local municipal authorities. RETURPACK is studying the inclusion of iron cans in the recycling operation mechanism.

3. Enterprises involved and their responsibilities

Sweden RETURPACK (full name AB Svenska Returpack) is a non-profit management company responsible for the entire recovery, processing, collection, payment and financial operations of the mechanism and coordination of business. The international large multinational packaging company REXAM owns 49% of the company's shares, the Swedish Beer Manufacturers Association also accounts for 49% of its shares, and the remaining 2% of the shares are owned by Swedish large food chain companies AXFOOD, COOP, ICA and SSLF, respectively.

RETURPACK's Cannery GmbH specializes in the management of all relevant cans for can recycling, such as collecting basic margins from cans of beer and beverage manufacturers and importers, selling cans of processed and packaged cans to smelters and retail Merchants and canners of beer and beverage manufacturers pay or allocate relevant margins and processing fees or accounts, the operation management and financial arrangements of the processing plant's relevant cans business, and send personnel to various collection points to check the number of recycling records for cans of recycling cans on every Friday. , Re-enter the bar code information that is still valid for registration, and input the newly registered bar code information to the recycler.

All cans beverage manufacturers in Sweden have participated in the recycling mechanism. They are responsible for providing bar code information and registering with RETURPACK. Can beverage manufacturers are also responsible for the processing of recovered empty cans.

All importers of cans beverages must also participate in this mechanism, which is responsible for providing bar code information for imported products and registering with RETURPACK.

Second, the recovery of beverage plastic bottles

1, history and status quo

After the successful implementation of the cans recycling deposit system in Sweden, Congress passed a legislative approval in 1993 to establish a recycling margin system for beverage plastic bottles (polyethylene terephtalate PET). Its operation process is similar to that of recycling cans. Started in 1994. At present, the annual sales volume of plastic bottle-packed beverages (including purified water, mineral water, fruit juices, soft drinks, cola, etc.) registered by RETURPACK is 300 million bottles, and the empty bottle recycling rate is 79%. (to be continued)