The REpoint system can also be useful for convenience stores

The European Union’s requirement is to increase the recycling of waste from the current 32% to 65% by 2040. A national system in which single-use beverage packaging can also be returned and their material can be reused by industry can help a lot in this regard. The REpont redemption network introduced by MOHU serves this purpose. Thanks to this system, the redemption rate of beverage packaging can be as high as 90%. A similar system was introduced in the neighboring Slovakia, and in just one year, the redemption rate in the country reached 70%. In other words, thanks to such a system, piles of plastic, glass, and aluminum boxes can disappear near the forests and on the banks of rivers, and we would protect nature from a huge burden.

Thanks to the new REpoint system, more and more returnable bottles will gradually appear in stores from spring. The reason is only gradually, because manufacturers have been granted a reprieve until June 30, until then they can put non-returnable packaging on the market.

The rule is simple: the bottle, glass or box for which we paid the HUF 50 fee and which has the HUF 50 logo can be returned.

Connection to the REpoint redemption system is mandatory for food stores with a sales area of ​​more than four hundred square meters, MOHU installs redemption machines in these. There are now 2,200 such machines in the country, and in addition to the mandatory ones, many shops have joined voluntarily. The connection is highly recommended for stores larger than 200 square meters, as the number of customers can also increase with the REpont system. Shops with a small area, which are typically located in small towns, also have the opportunity to connect to the system, where there is no place for a vending machine.

Such small shops can also apply through the MOHU Partner Portal. When redeeming manually, the customer takes the bottle back, the shop assistant takes it back with the help of an application, and the customer can redeem his HUF 50. The shopkeeper only needs a space the size of a larger household refrigerator to store the returned packaging. And MOHU’s system automatically informs the center when enough bottles have been collected (approx. 700-1000, depending on the agreement). After that, the mobile reverse automatic vehicle will soon go to the store for collection. The shopkeeper has nothing else to do but hand over the collection to the employee of the mobile return machine that arrives.

83 new mobile RVM vehicles put into operation as a result of the cooperation between MOHU MOL Hulladékfászállógi Zrt. and Returmatic Solutions Zrt. identify and compact the packaging on site. After that, the deposit fee of HUF 50 per piece is automatically and immediately transferred to the trader, in addition, MOHU also pays the operators a handling fee of HUF 5 per returned packaging, thereby providing them with an additional source of income. For the occasional collection, the storage space of the packaging is roughly only one square meter, so all these advantages can make joining the system an even more sound business decision for small shops.

International experience shows that customers typically choose the store where it is possible to redeem. Let’s imagine a village where there are two shops, one of them exchanges bottles, the other doesn’t. It is expected that more people will go there to take back the drink packaging.

Business owners can join the redemption system by registering on MOHU’s online administration interface, the Partner Portal, where further detailed information is available.

At the start of the process, retailers who join the manual redemption process also receive a starter package that helps with storage (a so-called roll cart) and customer service (a manual printer for printing out redemption receipts for the consumer).