Bars, restaurants and supermarkets are facing a logistical headache as the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (BCRS) recycling rules are leaving small business owners with bags of glass, metal and plastic containers with nowhere to store them.
A 10c deposit system on most beverage containers was introduced last week. Producers and importers are charging a 10c surcharge on beverages which can then be recouped after depositing the containers at a reverse vending machine.
A consortium of Malta’s largest beverage companies is running the operation. However, bars and restaurants have a separate business-to-business service (B2B) with the company.
Once a week, BCRS collects their beverage containers and returns the container deposits free of charge.
'I can't store hundreds of bottles'
“Restaurants are often small with limited storage space,” Association of Catering Establishments head Michelle Muscat said.
If restaurants do not have adequate storage space, they must go to a BCRS vending machine, which takes time, or pay for extra container pick-ups, she said.
“We have no problem with the concept and all we are asking for is a better implementation of the system with the least possible logistical impact,” she said.
Muscat, a restaurant owner herself, now hopes arrangements can soon be made to have more frequent pick-ups.
Before the scheme, beverage containers were disposed of daily as garbage. However, doing that now is equal to throwing money down the rubbish bin, one bar owner reckons.
For someone like myself, this is a nightmare... I don’t have anywhere to store hundreds of bottles
He feels the logistical challenges are not worth the returns.
“For someone like myself, this is a nightmare... I don’t have anywhere to store hundreds of bottles,” he said.
Asked why he does not use a reverse vending machine (RVM), he said they are already understaffed and his workers do not have time to deposit each bottle at a reverse vending machine.
“Storage is one big issue,” restaurateur Sean Gravina said, adding the scheme was a great initiative but not planned well enough.
“New restaurants should have a set space to recycle waste before being granted a permit to operate,” he contended.
Machines filling up several times a day
A spokesperson for BCRS Malta Limited said restaurants “have the option to book additional collections through a purposely developed online application at a nominal fee with a BCRS-appointed collector”.
Despite daily collections, supermarkets are also finding difficulties keeping up with the reverse vending machines in their establishments.
Christian Spiteri, who owns a small supermarket, said he or his employees are having to empty a newly-installed reverse vending machine (RVM) three or four times daily.
The RVM was provided by BCRS Malta Limited, however, his supermarket had to pay for a security camera and protective outer box, Spiteri noted.
Meanwhile, BCRS Malta Limited said that over 600,000 containers had already been collected within the first five days of operations, most of which did not qualify for the 10c deposit as they were purchased prior to the start of the scheme.