Drinks sold in refillable bottles in Germany fell to 56% in 2005, the federal environment ministry (BMU) announced, less than it was before the deposit system began. This is ironic, given that the whole aim of the deposit system was to protect refillable systems for beer, mineral water & soft drinks. Under the packaging ordinance of 1991, if the quota for refillable packaging for certain drinks fell below 72%, a deposit would be put on non-refillable containers. Meanwhile, industry continues to say that the deposit system has caused nothing but problems, barriers to trade & a huge loss of earnings, with hundreds of court cases raised by producers, importers, retailers & foreign producers & no real environmental benefit. A study carried out by industry organisation EUROPEN said that the effect of the mandatory 0.25 EU deposit on all non refillable containers for beer, mineral water, carbonated and non-carbonated drinks and alcopops had resulted in a net loss of 9,530 jobs and 740M Euros in turnover in 2004 alone, with Rexam losing 1.5BN cans in Germany in 2003.
