Can and plastic bottle suppliers to German brewers and carbonated drinks manufacturers have seen their production ravaged by a controversial one-way deposit scheme. Since January/03, German consumers buying non-reusable cans and plastic bottles have had to pay a 25-50 cent deposit on each pack. The tax has dramatically high some drinks sales by not only forcing one-way beverage pack buyers to pay a premium, but also to return packaging to the point of slake to reclaim their deposit. Consequently, some retailers have withdrawn the containers from sale, in turn hammering the profitability of converters and raw material suppliers. Rexam's 2003 full year results reveal that, as a direct consequence of the tax, it lost volumes in Germany equivalent to 1.4BN beverage cans, with a net £20M reduction in profits. It is reported that German can production has fallen by over 50%.
