| Law Name |
The Returnable Containers Act |
| Date Implemented | 6/1/1986, last amended 2019. |
| Containers Covered |
Sealed containers up to ≤1 gallon made of the following materials:
|
| Beverages Covered |
|
| Beverages Not Covered |
|
| Amount of Deposit |
Refund Value according to 2019 amendment of Returnable Containers Act, Cap. 395A, found here. |
| Fees and Taxes | Distributors pay a handling fee of 20% of the redemption value to dealers or redemption Ncenters. |
| Program Success |
N/A |
Details
No one in Barbados is permitted to sell a packaged beverage without permission from the Minister for the Environment. However, distributors and dealers can be exempted from the act if they have their own system for recycling containers. [2] Barbados passed its container recycling legislation in 1992, but had not been updated since its implementation. In 2019, the Barbados government enacted a new schedule to expand the definition of containers and to set specific deposits for containers by material type and size.
Recycling in Barbados is handled by a handful of recycling facilities and operators. Currently, B's Recycling in Cane Garden manages the supermarket bottle return depots, and deals with the export of glass and plastic bottles. Metal containers are instead overseen by Recycling Preparation Inc. [3]
Footnotes
[1] "Global Deposit Book 2020: An Overview of Deposit Systems for One-Way Beverage Containers." Reloop Inc. December 15, 2020.
[2] "Barbados: Select plastic laws." Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. 2020.
[3] "Recycling - Barbados." Barbados Solid Waste Management Programme. Last updated 2018.
Last Updated on May 19, 2023.