Spain to require bars and shops to charge a deposit on plastic bottles and cans under new SDDR rules

A deposit at the till, refunded on return

Spain is preparing to oblige bars, restaurants, shops and supermarkets to add a small surcharge to every single-use plastic bottle and can they sell, under the Sistema de Depósito, Devolución y Retorno (SDDR), according to okdiario.com. The charge is not a tax. It works as a deposit that the consumer recovers in full once the empty container is handed back at a collection point.

The system is already set out in the Boletín Oficial del Estado. It was approved under Ley 7/2022 of 8 April on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy, and developed through Real Decreto 1055/2022. Okdiario.com reports that the deposit could be around 10 céntimos per container.

How the mechanism works

The design follows the model already running in several European markets: the deposit is charged at the point of sale and released when the packaging re-enters the collection chain. The practical detail that matters most for retailers is where and how those returns are handled.

• A deposit of roughly 10 céntimos is added to each single-use plastic bottle or can at the point of sale and refunded when the empty container is returned.
• Consumers are not obliged to return packaging to the outlet where they bought or consumed it; the deposit can be reclaimed at any authorised point in their city.
• Collection points are to be installed in supermarkets and shops.
• Logistics and investment are being led by the Government, which okdiario.com describes as the main sticking point for the parties involved.

Start date still disputed

The timetable is where the sources diverge. Okdiario.com states that the scheme was originally scheduled for 12 August and could enter into force at the end of November 2026, with consumers paying the surcharge from 22 November 2026. The same outlet notes that, according to reporting by La Vanguardia, bureaucracy and the complexity of the model have been delaying the rollout.

Mercadona gave a different reading. Responding to a customer through its official social media profile, the retailer said the rollout in Spain is still being analysed by the affected sectors, that the measure is contained in Real Decreto 1055/2022 and in European Packaging Regulation 2025/40, and that there is currently no official start date for the system.

The 70% target and Germany's benchmark

The driver is European. Brussels has required Spain to raise its recycling rate, with the objective of reaching a 70% collection rate for single-use plastic bottles in the coming months, okdiario.com reports. The longer-term benchmark set by the European Union is a 90% rate by 1 January 2029.

Germany is the reference case cited in the reporting: deposit-return has been in place there for years and the recycling rate for single-use plastic packaging has risen to as much as 90%. Portugal, according to okdiario.com, introduced the system in 2026, and the mechanism is already operating with notable success elsewhere in Europe.

For beverage producers, bottlers and retail chains in Spain, the commercial consequences run beyond the surcharge itself. A functioning SDDR concentrates clean, sorted PET and aluminium in a single return stream, which is precisely the material that packaging regulation is pushing companies to buy back as recycled content. Hospitality venues and small shops, by contrast, take on a handling role they did not have before, alongside the cash-flow effect of collecting deposits at the till and paying them out again at the return point.