New deposit-refund system starts on 1 October 2025

In general, all sellers of appropriately labelled beverages covered by the deposit-refund system will have to charge a deposit. A deposit of 0,50 zloty or 1 zloty will be added to the beverage’s price.  

If the sales outlet’s area exceeds 200 m2, the seller will be obliged to collect such packaging and refund the deposit.  Smaller sellers may volunteer to collect packaging, unless they sell also multi-use glass bottles subject to the deposit-refund system. In such a case, the collection and refunds of the deposits are mandatory too. 

In turn, manufacturers and marketers who import beverages in such packaging to Poland from within or from outside the EU have certain legal and tax obligations. 

In particular, they have to sign an agreement with a representative or several representatives to ensure the correct distribution of returnable packaging and accounting for the deposits for the packaging. They also have to register with the BDO database or update their entry. 

Moreover, marketers will be obliged to keep records for VAT purposes and correctly recognise tax obligations in SAF-Ts. 

Smaller sellers who offer beverages in containers covered by the deposit-refund system should also not lose sight of obligations such as signing an agreement with a representative, and should fulfil other obligations. 

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