Since October 2025, marked drink packages have carried a national deposit collected at checkout. The system is deliberately visible: the label shows both the deposit symbol and the amount. That mark, not the material alone, tells you whether a bottle or can can be returned through the universal network.
Three packages, two values
The empty package still has four jobs
The shelf price may not be the final till price
The deposit is added when the drink is sold rather than built into the displayed product price. A bottle marked 50 gr therefore raises the checkout total by half a złoty. That extra amount is recoverable, not a tax or recycling fee.
Old and new packages can share the refrigerator
From January 2026, participating producers place newly marketed covered drinks in packages bearing the deposit mark, while older unmarked stock may still be sold until exhausted. Two visually similar bottles can therefore have different return value. Trust the mark.
Large shops are the reliable collection map
Shops over 200 square metres that sell covered drinks must collect the marked packaging. Smaller shops may join voluntarily, and standalone collection points can also operate. You do not need to return the package to the shop that sold it.
The machine voucher must still become money
A reverse-vending machine may print a voucher for practical reasons, but Polish rules entitle the customer to a monetary refund. Follow the store's redemption route and cash the voucher before leaving rather than treating it as an expiring souvenir.
A restaurant changes the rule when the package stays
If a marked drink is consumed on the premises and its package remains with the restaurant, the customer does not normally pay the deposit. When the marked bottle or can leaves with a takeaway order, the seller should collect it and the customer can later return the package.