Deposit return schemes of EU Member States and the EU's internal market

Abstract Deposit return (DR) schemes on drinks containers have long been in place in certain EU Member States. Consumers are charged a deposit per container at the point of purchase, which they can later get back when they return the container after consuming its contents. Whilst such schemes are in the interests of the environment, at least historically before the age of mass‐household recycling, it is debatable whether such schemes can be justified in the modern age, given the obvious problems that DR schemes pose to the EU's internal market as a restriction to cross‐border trade and the free movement of goods. This article analyses DR schemes, accounting for recent developments at the Court of Justice of the European Union, before reflecting on what the future holds for DR schemes as a matter of EU law.