Reverse vending machine cost

Exemptions

Deposit return scheme exemptions: when a shop need not take returns

Updated

A shop that sells drinks in scheme containers must normally take them back. An exemption can be granted on a few stated grounds, and in Wales it lasts three years at most before it must be renewed.

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The grounds for an exemption

Exchange for Change says exemption allowances have been agreed based on proximity, heritage or listed building restrictions, site access or lack of access to utilities.

Source: Exchange for Change newsletter 13, June 2026

Ask Exchange for Change how each ground is applied to your store before you plan around one; the criteria are its own, and it publishes them.

Source: Exchange for Change newsletter 13, June 2026

How long an exemption lasts in Wales

Under the Welsh regulations a return point exemption must not be renewed for a period of more than 3 years, and the exemption notice must state that, unless revoked or renewed, it expires at the end of 3 years from the day after it takes effect.

Source: The Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (Wales) Regulations 2026

If an exemption is to be revoked, the date it ends must be at least 28 days after the exemption holder receives the revocation notice.

Source: The Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (Wales) Regulations 2026

If you are not exempt

The Welsh regulations' schedule of penalties lists £1,000 against the requirement to operate a return point, and £500 against the requirement to display information where no return point is operated.

Source: The Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (Wales) Regulations 2026

A shop that must take returns can do it by hand or with a machine; the small retailer grant is for installing a reverse vending machine.

Source: Exchange for Change: DRS support for retailers

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What you need

What is it about?

Your store's size, roughly how many drinks containers you sell a week, and whether you are in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

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Sources

This site's own datasets, every figure quoted from its source and dated:

  • The UK DRS Return Point Rules carries 2 published figures read from 1 source's own page, from 3 to 7 year, read 28 October 2026.
  • The median published figure in the UK Reverse Vending Machine Price Index is 3,138.88 EUR across 1 source's own page in EUR (range 3,138.88 to 3,138.88 EUR; 2 sources publish a figure), read 29 October 2026.
  1. TOMRA: reverse vending machine price
  2. TOMRA reverse vending
  3. RVM Systems UK (its own page, listed on this site's dataset page)
  4. RVM Systems all products
  5. RVM Systems: can a small store use an RVM?
  6. First Mile RVMs for retailers
  7. Store Fittings Direct: compact deposit return machine (QUBE)
  8. Envipco: UK DRS exemption criteria

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