The government is considering inspecting and cleaning bottle-return points as it is unhappy with the way the BCRS scheme is being managed, according to senior government sources.

Bottle collection services for vulnerable residents who might struggle to reach BCRS (Beverage Container Refund Scheme) machines are also being considered as part of a drive to improve the efficiency of the system, Times of Malta understands.

The changes being mulled – which are understood to be known to BCRS – come against a backdrop of frustration at the way the scheme is being managed, with the government reportedly “unhappy” with the service being provided.

Sources said the government was aware of “discontent” among residents about the cleanliness of collection points and machines being full, and said it was pushing BCRS to pre-emptively empty machines when they are close to being full.

Is BCRS intentionally discouraging bottle returns?

The consortium running the scheme was also being told to clean the sites more frequently, sources said, adding “one must question why the operator appears not to do so”.

The apparent lack of action on the issue had led the government to consider “intervening” in the scheme, while suggesting that BCRS was attempting to discourage returns “for its own agenda”, the sources said.

They explained there was suspicion within government that the consortium had been hoping the model would not work successfully, and that only a minority of customers would return bottles and claim the refund.

With customers paying an additional 10c deposit for beverages that fall under the scheme and only receiving a refund when returning the bottle for recycling, the deposits for any unreturned containers are kept by the company.

As a not-for-profit company, BCRS is obliged to reinvest any profits back into the company, however.

High collection rates

Last year, collection rates hit 84 per cent, with 90 per cent hoped for by 2026 – return levels that had “not been music to the ears of the operators”, according to sources who said that during discussions the consortium running BCRS had told the government it needed more funding as it was “losing money”.

Recently, it emerged the company had significantly raised administrative fees for beverage producers and importers, with hikes of up to 143 per cent blamed on rising operational expenses and sharp falls in global recyclable waste prices.

Meanwhile, the company registered losses of €1.31 million in 2023 – slightly less than the €1.4 million lost the year before – and does not rule out further fee increases to be able to balance its books, according to recently published financial statements.

Sources said the government had “held a lot of meetings with BCRS”, during which the consortium rejected a suggestion to remove glass bottles from the scheme, arguing the move would give suppliers using glass containers an unfair competitive advantage.

Push for more machines

The government is also understood to be pushing the operators of the scheme to install more machines around the country.

This is something BCRS CEO Alan Meilak told Times of Malta in an interview last year the consortium wanted to do but was first keen to increase use of collection points in supermarkets and retail outlets.

By directing more returns to those “manual collection” points, queues at BCRS machines would significantly lessen, he had argued, noting returns to those points accounted for just 10 per cent of the total containers collected.

Responding to complaints about the machines during the same interview, Meilak said that despite being cleaned “almost every day”, dirt inside the machines could lead to bottles being rejected, with infrastructure strains and an anti-fraud system – required to protect against “dangerous” items sometimes submitted – also contributing to issues.

Announcing the recent administrative fee hikes, which drew criticism from across the political spectrum including from Prime Minister Robert Abela, BCRS said it would be stepping up enforcement efforts in the coming weeks, with more monitoring and compliance checks taking place.

The BCRS scheme began operating in late 2022, as part of an EU-wide drive requiring all member states to operate a beverage recycling scheme, with the consortium running it made up of the country’s biggest beverage producers.