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The start-up Circleback is initiating a deposit system for cosmetics packaging such as shampoo bottles and toothpaste tubes in Berlin. Consumers in the capital will soon be able to return such containers to selected supermarkets. The recycled material obtained from the packaging will be delivered directly back to the manufacturer.
The demand for high-quality recyclates has exceeded the supply on the market for years. According to the Heinrich Böll Foundation (2019), only eight per cent of the plastic collected via the Yellow Bag has so far been recycled into new, equivalent packaging. The reason: the bags contain too much contaminated plastic. The result: Too much high-quality plastic is still being incinerated as waste instead of being recycled because it is too expensive to clean.
Up to 20 cents to consumers
The Circleback company wants to change that. Its system is based on the state deposit system for drinks bottles, which ensures a recycling rate of more than 90 per cent. Circleback has geared its business concept specifically to the cosmetics and body care sector: Partner brands receive their „own“ plastic back. They pay a fee to Circleback for collecting and recycling the packaging material. To make the system known and attractive to consumers, they will receive up to 20 cents per plastic packaging that they hand in at the reverse vending machine via the Circleback app. Whether these 20 cents are added to the price beforehand is initially up to the respective companies and therefore also retailers. In later expansion stages, there will also be other types of remuneration from the participating partner brands.
It was the plastic waste on the beach in Panama that gave US-born Brett Dickey the idea of founding Circleback. When he moved to Berlin in 2020, he felt the time had come to realise his plan: „Germany is considered a recycling champion abroad. When I was here, I couldn't come to terms with the fact that there is no recycling system for packaging plastic - especially as the deposit system for bottles works very well.“
The start-up Circleback, which was founded based on this idea and is supported by company builder BEAM, has been able to attract brands such as Catrice, essence, Dr.Bronner's, i+m and Kneipp for the pilot phase, and many supermarkets and drugstores have also expressed interest in the concept. With a pre-seed investment of 350,000 euros, Circleback is testing the first vending machines in Berlin this year.
Source: Circleback
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