Ban on deposit collectors: Are supermarkets allowed to limit the amount of deposits returned?

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Empty bottles and cans in a shopping cart

Photo: Jens Wolf / picture alliance / dpa

Returns are only made in normal household quantities: Many customers have probably already read this notice at deposit machines. Sometimes the requirement is more drastic, as was recently the case in a supermarket in Mainz: Due to “low capacity” and “out of consideration for our regular customers,” only empties with a deposit value of five euros can be accepted, according to a sign posted by a user posted on Reddit a few days ago. “Anyone who doesn’t comply will be banned from entering the house!” it concludes. InRLP.de, among others, had previously reported.

Are supermarkets allowed to do this? The press office of the supermarket chain tegut confirmed to SPIEGEL that the notice was hanging "for a short time" in the branch on Mainz's Bahnhofsstrasse. But the market owner "overshot the mark" with the measure and apologizes deeply to everyone who felt offended by the notice, said the head of corporate communications, Matthias Pusch.

The market owner acted “in the good conscience of doing his regular customers a favor.” The background was complaints about long waiting times at the reverse vending machines because several people had handed in garbage bags full of bottles, said Pusch. “The market is located at the train station and is the only one that has a deposit machine, which also attracts empties collectors.”

It is a challenge for markets like the one in Mainz's Bahnhofsviertel if they are increasingly used by deposit collectors. But notices threatening people to be banned from entering the house wouldn't help, says Pusch. “The store managers have to find a way to communicate here in order to get the situations under control.” Pusch continued that he cannot judge whether restrictions are permissible.

Specifications depend on market size and packaging type

The return of deposits is regulated by law. However, the requirements differ depending on the size of the market, the type of packaging and whether it is a reusable or disposable deposit. According to the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, large stores that sell reusable bottles must take back all types of reusable bottles - regardless of whether they offer the bottle shape themselves. Only stores with a sales area of ​​less than 200 square meters are allowed to limit themselves to the products that they themselves offer.

When it comes to disposable packaging, the requirements are a little more complicated. Regardless of their size, stores only have to take back deposit-based packaging of the material that they sell. So if a store only stocks plastic bottles subject to a deposit, but no cans, it is only obliged to take back bottles. Smaller stores can also limit returns to the brands they carry themselves, the Federal Ministry continued.

If the shops do not comply with the requirements, for example by rejecting certain containers, you can contact the consumer advice centers, which will then file a complaint with the waste authorities.

No regulations regarding maximum quantities

However, the Packaging Act does not specifically specify how many deposit bottles can be returned at once, explains Caroline Brunnbauer from the Rhineland-Palatinate Consumer Center. “The supermarkets therefore rely on their house rules when setting maximum values,” says Brunnbauer.

In addition, shops can relatively easily impose a ban on the premises, as various highest court rulings have confirmed - without any further justification, as the Stuttgart District Court emphasized in a ruling from 2021.

The lawsuit was filed by a man who stated that he had been banned from entering the premises because of excessive deposit returns. The defendant supermarket, in turn, stated that the man refused to stand at the back of the checkout line and aggressively insulted the staff. The court, however, found that the supermarket did not have to provide any objective reason for a ban and dismissed the lawsuit.

Appeal for a “balanced approach”

Deposit collectors can also contact the consumer advice centers. Ultimately, however, they have to hope for public outrage if a supermarket limits the amount of deposits that can be returned, as in Mainz. However, some customers also express dissatisfaction with the long waiting times.

“We therefore appeal to establish a balanced approach that takes into account both the needs of the branch and the concerns of the deposit collectors,” explains the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland.

Rewe also shares this pragmatic approach. When asked, the retail group's press spokesman stated that "where stores face challenges in this regard due to their location and structural conditions," "sales or logistical solutions are found," such as more frequent collection dates for empties. However, a “general restriction” is not an option. When asked, Kaufland and Aldi also emphasized that they would generally not limit the quantity sold.

According to Paritätisches, blanket restrictions and threats of stay-at-home orders are worrying - if not for legal reasons, then at least for moral reasons. "You should never forget that the people who collect returnable bottles and return them to such markets are not doing so voluntarily, but rather it is an expression of abject poverty," their state manager Michael Hamm tells SPIEGEL. It is a responsibility for society as a whole to support these people wherever possible - "In our view, this also includes ensuring that food markets do not impose such restrictions and do not make these people's lives any more difficult than they already are."