The deposit system

Registration
In Norway, all producers and importers of beverages, in either cans or non-refillable bottles (PET), can register their products in the deposit system. They pay the deposit to Infinitum to label the bottles and cans with the deposit symbol.

Returning empties
Consumers return their empty cans and bottles to a retailer, like a store, kiosk or petrol station. When consumers return their empties, they get back the deposit they paid upon purchase. In turn, the retailers get the deposit refunded from Infinitum.

Infinitum’s production
The empty bottles and cans return to Infinitum’s production facilities or to regional partners. The production facility record, process and prepare the empties for recycling.

Recycling
The empties are sent to recycling in compressed cubes. This is called bailing.

Cans: The recycler melts the aluminum into aluminium sheets. The raw material produce new cans, or other types of aluminum products.

Bottles: The recycler sorts, shreds, cleans and dries the plastic bottles into plastic flakes. The plastic flakes become preforms. Producers buys preforms for new bottles.