The Czech Republic is presently deciding whether to introduce deposits for disposable beverage packaging (PET bottles and cans) as an instrument of waste treatment policy. The study analyses the revenues and costs generated by such a system in the Czech Republic and determines who would bear the costs.

The paper is not concerned with the theoretical aspects nor an analysis of pros and cons of implementing a deposit system, which can be gained from much of the foreign literature in recent years; it only deals with a cost-benefit analysis of this system. The Swedish deposit model is the basis for formulating the particular elements and parameters for a deposit system in the Czech Republic. A part of the analysis is also evaluating the costs connected with cleaning public places of litter.

The main aims of the projects are the following analyses of the deposit-return system on beverage packaging (PET bottles and cans) in the Czech Republic:
– a cost-benefit analysis of the system assuming 80% (alternatively 85% and 90%) recycling of beverage packaging from the total quantity,
– net costs analysis (after deducting revenues) and the impacts of costs on the final price for a consumer,
– a cost-benefit analysis of the current separate collection of beverage packaging with different scales of recycling (modelling the influence of new legislation),
– an analysis of the costs of the problem of litter and their potential decrease due to deposits.