Norway is working with Vietnam to test a deposit system for plastic bottles, meaning users pay a small amount when buying a bottle of water and receive money back when returning the bottle.
Sharing at the Sustainable Consumption Forum 2025 on July 2, Ms. Hilde Solbakken, Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam, said that Vietnam has a lot of potential to apply a deposit-return model similar to this country.
Deposit-Return System (DRS) is a model for users to pay a small amount when buying food and bottled water, and receive money back when returning the bottle. This is a tool to implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Norway, helping the country achieve a recycling rate of plastic bottles and aluminum cans of up to 92.3%.
According to the report “Scoping study of a suitable deposit-return system (DRS) for Vietnam” conducted by consultancy firm Eunomia Environmental Research & Consulting, if the deposit level is regulated at 1,000-2,000 VND per package, the collection rate in Vietnam will reach 80-90%.
“We are working closely with international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the authorities to be able to pilot the DRS model with bottles and jars in Vietnam,” Ms. Solbakken said.
Plastic bottles and aluminum cans account for 98% of disposable beverage packaging in Vietnam. This is a high-value recycled input material, but the collection and recycling rate is only 50%. In addition, this material is often contaminated when discarded with household waste.
Referring to the environmental benefits of implementing a deposit-return system, the report team estimated that Vietnam could collect and recycle an additional 21,000-77,000 tons of used beverage packaging, significantly reducing the amount of landfill and incineration waste, especially the habit of littering. Thereby, 265,000 tons of CO2 equivalent could be cut each year, while reducing ocean plastic pollution.
From a socio-economic perspective, the above system could create about 6,400 more jobs in the collection, sorting and management stages. The report’s authors calculated that Vietnam could save about VND1,400 billion each year thanks to the indirect environmental impact of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, air, water and soil pollution.
No country in Southeast Asia has implemented the DRS system. Singapore is the only country planning to test the DRS system next year, with a deposit fee of 10 cents. If Vietnam soon tests and operates this system, Norway believes that this will be a model for neighboring countries to learn from. “We are ready to support Vietnam with technology and experts in implementing this model,” the Norwegian Ambassador affirmed.
Norway has implemented the EPR policy since the 1990s with packaging, electronic products, means of transport and a number of other fields. Despite many achievements in this policy, Ambassador Solbakken said that Norway needs to learn from Vietnam’s thriftiness. Vietnamese people often repair or recycle and reuse items, instead of buying new ones. Meanwhile, Norway faces a major challenge in its efforts to cut consumption.
“As of April, we had used almost all of our renewable resources in a year,” Ms. Solbakken said.