Does the deposit have to go up? debate in the brewing industry

The core of the problem is that a new beer bottle costs much more than the deposit that is usually 8 cents. “With the current deposit amount, the return incentive is not big enough. As a result, many bottles and crates are lost and have to be bought more expensively,” says Lothar Ebbertz, General Manager of the Bavarian Brewers’ Association. A higher deposit could bring the bottles back faster, he says. Nevertheless, the association is not an advocate of an increase. “The devil is in the details,” says Ebbertz.