Hungarian Deposit Return System in H1 2026: 1.5 Billion Containers and the Road to the EU’s 90% Target

The Hungarian deposit return system reached a new high in the first half of 2026: according to fresh data from MOHU, the operator of the scheme, consumers returned 1,515,467,453 plastic bottles, metal cans and glass bottles to REpont return points between January and June. The figure is impressive on its own, but the real question is what it reveals about the state of the system in light of the EU’s tightening packaging rules. We went through MOHU’s half-year report and interpreted the data from a waste management perspective, in plain language.

In short: The Hungarian deposit return system collected 1.515 billion containers in the first half of 2026, 8.3% more than a year earlier. Over the 12 months from July 2025 to June 2026 the return rate stood at 90.1%, which in aggregate already matches the EU’s 2029 target, although plastic (89.8%) is still a hair below it and the EU measures by weight.

A record pace: 1.5 billion containers in six months

In the first quarter 667 million beverage containers came back into the system, and in the second quarter 848 million, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 27%. According to MOHU, returns over the whole half-year were 8.3% higher than in the same period of 2025, comfortably outperforming last year’s first-half result of roughly 1.4 billion. Across the whole of 2025, more than 3 billion containers were returned to REpont points.

The monthly curve shows clear seasonality. The weakest month was the shorter February (203 million units), while in June 309.7 million containers were returned, more than 10 million per day on average. Over the half-year as a whole, an average of 8.4 million bottles, cans and glass bottles a day were sent on their way to recycling. Readers who remember our autumn 2023 report that from 2024 bottles could be returned at around 2,000 return points (in Hungarian) can see how far the system has come in two and a half years.

Month	Plastic	Metal	Glass	Total
January	107,270,425	91,219,533	18,336,031	216,825,989
February	102,720,601	85,761,331	14,625,334	203,107,266
March	123,697,578	106,350,915	17,063,324	247,111,817
April	126,720,973	112,369,508	18,527,254	257,617,735
May	136,380,960	124,294,480	20,387,519	281,062,959
June	151,493,033	135,988,661	22,259,993	309,741,687
Total	748,283,570	655,984,428	111,199,455	1,515,467,453

Source: MOHU, number of single-use containers

Plastic leads by count, glass by weight

By number of units, 49% of returned containers were plastic bottles, 43% metal cans and only 7% glass. By weight, the picture is entirely different: of the 67,952 tonnes collected during the half-year, 35,765 tonnes (53%) were glass, 23,148 tonnes (34%) plastic and 9,039 tonnes (13%) metal.

Dividing weight by unit count reveals the average container weights: a returned glass bottle weighs roughly 320 grams, a PET bottle about 31 grams and an aluminium can barely 14 grams. This is more than a curiosity. EU collection targets are calculated by weight, and glass is also the heaviest (and most expensive) stream to handle logistically, while accounting for only a fraction of the system’s unit count.

How close is the Hungarian deposit return system to the EU benchmark?

Two pieces of EU legislation define what the Hungarian system has to deliver. The Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) sets separate collection targets for plastic beverage bottles of up to three litres of 77% by 2025 and 90% by 2029, and also requires at least 25% recycled content in PET bottles from 2025 and 30% in all plastic beverage bottles from 2030.

The new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) goes further: from 1 January 2029 it requires at least 90% separate collection per year, by weight, of single-use plastic and metal beverage containers of up to three litres, and as a rule makes a deposit return system (DRS) mandatory to achieve it. We covered the regulation earlier when the official PPWR guidance was published (in Hungarian).

One detail matters a great deal for Hungary. Systems set up before the PPWR entered into force, such as the Hungarian DRS launched in 2024, are not bound by the minimum requirements listed in Annex X of the regulation if they reach the 90% target by 1 January 2029. The much-discussed “80% exemption in 2026”, on the other hand, does not apply here: it is meant for countries that want to meet the target without a deposit system.

MOHU’s 12-month data for July 2025 to June 2026 look like this:

Material stream	Return rate (by unit count)	EU requirement
Plastic	89.8%	77% (2025, SUPD), 90% (2029, SUPD and PPWR)
Metal	91.2%	90% (2029, PPWR)
Glass	85.5%	no mandatory EU DRS target
Total	90.1%	–

At first glance, the system already meets in aggregate the 90% the EU expects by 2029, which MOHU had also set as its goal for the third year of operation. Metal is clearly above the target, and plastic comfortably exceeds its 77% target for 2025. For a more precise reading, however, three things are worth keeping in mind.

The first is the unit of measurement. MOHU counts units, the EU counts weight. Because a PET bottle is more than twice as heavy as an aluminium can, the combined weight-based rate for plastic and metal will sit closer to plastic’s 89.8% than to metal’s 91.2%, so compliance is hovering right around the 90% line.

The second is the denominator. In principle, bottles collected separately in yellow recycling bins can also count towards the EU separate collection rate, which may improve the picture. At the same time, every bottle placed on the market must be taken into account, so unregistered products outside the system can drag it down.

The third is glass. The PPWR does not make deposit return mandatory for glass beverage bottles; it only asks member states to endeavour to include them. Hungary goes beyond the EU minimum here, since wine and spirits packaging is also part of the system. Glass has the weakest rate at 85.5%, yet it still contributes significantly to meeting the general EU recycling targets for glass packaging (70% by 2025 and 75% by 2030).

Why does the quarterly rate “drop” in summer?

MOHU’s report also gives the quantities placed on the market (reported) and returned per quarter. Calculating a quarterly rate from these produces a surprising swing:

Quarter	Placed on market (units)	Returned (units)	Rate
Q3 2025	943,664,521	928,203,018	98.4%
Q4 2025	775,599,680	698,783,138	90.1%
Q1 2026	743,779,080	667,045,072	89.7%
Q2 2026	1,025,781,304	848,422,381	82.7%

The 82.7% for the second quarter of 2026 may look worrying at first, but it reflects a time lag rather than leakage. In spring, producers and retailers build up summer stock: 38% more deposit-bearing containers were reported in the second quarter than in the first. Part of these were still in warehouses, on shop shelves or in household pantries in June and only came back over the summer. The same effect shows in reverse in the third quarter of 2025, when the return of containers bought earlier pushed the rate up to 98.4%.

That is why the 12-month figure is the meaningful one, and why EU compliance will ultimately be judged on calendar-year numbers. The full-year 2026 result therefore still depends on returns in the second half of the year.

County ranking: Pest on top, Békés at the bottom

In the first half of 2026, an average of 156 bottles were returned per inhabitant nationwide, roughly 0.86 containers per person per day. Yet there is a noticeable gap of almost 25% between counties:

• The highest per-capita returns were in Pest County (172), Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok (167) and Komárom-Esztergom (166).
• At the bottom of the ranking are Békés (138), followed by Csongrád-Csanád and Nógrád (143 each).
• Budapest was slightly above average with 159, while Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén came in exactly at the national average of 156.

An interesting pattern is that several eastern counties (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg 164, Hajdú-Bihar 161) perform above average, while several western ones (Győr-Moson-Sopron 153, Zala 150, Vas 149) fall below it. The report offers no explanation, so we can only suggest hypotheses: the different relative value of the HUF 50 deposit, the density of return points, cross-border shopping or tourism may all play a role. Only further data can show how much each factor weighs.

Vouchers, bank transfers, charity: what do we take for our bottles?

For 80.81% of the containers returned at machines, consumers chose a store voucher, for 19.04% a bank transfer via the REpont app, and 0.15% was donated to charity. Basket sizes are telling too: an average return transaction involves 24 containers, but those choosing bank transfer typically bring larger batches (32 units) than voucher users (23 units), while charity donations tend to come from “leftover” containers (5 units).

Multiplying the half-year’s total returns by the HUF 50 deposit, roughly HUF 75.8 billion went back to consumers in six months. Charity donations raised more than HUF 109 million in MOHU’s “Mosolyra váltó” (Exchange for a Smile) programme for the three first-half beneficiaries working in children’s health and family support. Beneficiaries rotate every six months: in the second half of 2026, donations at REpont machines go to the Foundation for the Protection of Children with Heart Disease (Szívbeteg Gyermekek Védelmében Alapítvány), the Hungarian Food Bank Association (Magyar Élelmiszerbank Egyesület) and the PIROS ORR Clown Doctors Foundation, as we reported in our recent article.

The bulk of the system runs through machines: returns taken back with mobile scanning devices (in hospitality venues and manual return points) accounted for just 3.9% of the total. The HORECA sector contributed 8 million containers and manual return points 51.3 million. The refund table shows a total of 1,518,913,296 units, which differs slightly from the figure above due to ongoing data cleansing but does not materially affect the results.

Fewer manual return points, more registered products

The number of return points fell from 5,212 to 5,065 between January and June. Machine-based REpoints grew slowly (from 3,475 to 3,502), but manual return points dropped by ten percent, from 1,737 to 1,563. According to MOHU, the January–February decline was due to inactive applicants.

This matters for accessibility, since in smaller settlements manual take-back is often the only option available. Small shops’ willingness to take part also depends heavily on the handling fee paid to retailers, as we explained in our article on the MOHU handling fee dispute. Meanwhile, convenience can be improved by bulk-feed machines, which we covered in connection with the pilot in Pilisvörösvár and later the R2 machine that also handles glass (both in Hungarian).

The range of returnable products keeps growing: at the end of June, 37,566 registered products from 987 companies were in the system. In the first half-year 4,866 new products were added, between 531 and 997 per month. Of the registered products, 35% are wine, 30% other alcoholic beverages, 14% flavoured drinks, 11% beer, 6% fruit juice, 3% water and 1% energy drinks.

Note, however, that these figures reflect the number of product lines (SKUs), not sales volumes: a single SKU of a popular mineral water can mean hundreds of millions of bottles. Seven percent of registered products come in refillable packaging and 93% in single-use packaging, so reuse remains a niche segment for now, even though the PPWR sets targets for it from 2030.

What does all this mean for the next two and a half years?

Based on the half-year data, the Hungarian system has matured quickly: 1.5 billion containers in six months, an aggregate return rate above 90% and a steadily expanding product range. In terms of EU compliance, metal is already in the safe zone, while plastic is balancing on the 90% line, and weight-based calculation is more likely to hurt than help.

The key questions for the coming period are therefore not about growing volumes but about retention and access: making sure the decline in manual return points does not leave blank spots on the map, making returns faster and more convenient, and bringing the last few percent of plastic bottles back into the system. It would also help the public considerably if MOHU regularly published weight-based figures following the EU methodology alongside its unit-based rates, so that everyone could see clearly where the country stands before 2029. We follow further developments under our REpont tag.

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FAQ: Hungarian deposit return system in the first half of 2026

How many containers were returned in Hungary in the first half of 2026?

Hungarian consumers returned 1,515,467,453 beverage containers in the first half of 2026, 8.3% more than in the same period of 2025. Of these, 748 million were plastic bottles, 656 million metal cans and 111 million glass bottles. Second-quarter returns were 27% higher than in the first quarter, and in June more than ten million containers came back every day.

Does the Hungarian system meet the EU’s 90% collection target?

In aggregate, yes: over the 12 months from July 2025 to June 2026, the return rate was 90.1%. Metal (91.2%) already exceeds the 90% level the PPWR requires by 2029, but plastic (89.8%) is still a hair below it. The EU also measures by weight and per calendar year, so the final verdict will come from annual data.

Why is the quarterly return rate lower in the second quarter of 2026?

Because the quarterly rate reflects a time lag, not leakage. In spring, producers and retailers build up summer stock: 38% more containers were reported in the second quarter than in the first, but consumers return them weeks later. The same effect pushed the third quarter of 2025 up to 98.4%, which is why the 12-month rate is the meaningful figure.

Which Hungarian county returns the most bottles per person?

Pest County, where 172 containers were returned per inhabitant in the first half of 2026. It is followed by Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok (167) and Komárom-Esztergom (166). At the bottom are Békés (138), Csongrád-Csanád and Nógrád (143 each). The national average was 156, with Budapest slightly above it at 159 and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén exactly on the average.

How do most consumers claim their deposit refund?

As a store voucher. For 80.81% of containers returned at machines, consumers chose a voucher, for 19.04% a bank transfer through the REpont app, and only 0.15% was donated to charity. Bank-transfer users bring 32 containers per visit on average and voucher users 23, while the overall average is 24 containers per transaction.

Why does glass make up more than half of the returned weight?

Because an average glass bottle weighs roughly 320 grams, compared with about 31 grams for a PET bottle and 14 grams for an aluminium can. So although glass is only 7% of returned units, it accounts for 53% of the 67,952 tonnes collected in the half-year. This matters because EU collection targets are calculated by weight.

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Source:

MOHU / REpont – Results of the mandatory deposit return system in the first half of 2026 (PDF, in Hungarian)