National Committee for Ecology proposes mandatory deposit for bottles and cans

The initiative was announced by Kutbidinov on October 20 in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, while presenting a new edition of the law "On Waste". According to him, the current procedure does not provide people and businesses with sufficient economic motivation to sort packaging. "The voluntary procedure has not been implemented in practice, and the level of recycling of such waste remains low - only 6.2%", he said. The essence of the deposit system is that the deposit is included in the price of the drink and is returned to the buyer when they hand in the empty container at a collection point. Manufacturers and traders, according to the deputy head of the committee, need to be given a phased transition period to create infrastructure.

The size of the deposit, the system operator, the places of acceptance of containers, and the deadlines were not specified at the meeting. It was also not clarified how the deposit system is reflected in the bill. The Chamber approved the document in the first reading on October 20, with further legislative procedures ahead. The new edition, consisting of nine chapters and 60 articles, expands the responsibility of manufacturers and importers for waste from individual goods and packaging, and in established cases, provides for a disposal fee.

According to Kutbidinov, in 2025, 15.1 million tons of household waste were generated in the country, of which 5.2% were sorted. Since September 23, the Agency for Waste Management and Development of a Circular Economy, together with the Norwegian company TOMRA, has been testing reverse vending machines in Tashkent and the Surkhandarya region. For each bottle or can, the machine accrues 150 soums through Click, which can also be donated to charity; the deposit is not charged when purchasing.